PLEASE DON’T GO… 

 By Brenda Katongola
 
I AM impressed that President Rupiah Banda is taking it personal by declaring that he will ensure national team coach, Herve Renard remains Chipolopolo coach.

It is quiet unusual for a Republican President to go on television, and not just any television station, but Digital Satellite television Supersport channel to publicly declare such interest.

Being the ardent soccer administrator and fan that he is, President Banda has seen something in Renard that he would go out of his way to persuade him to stay for the Chipolopolo to go an extra mile further than they did at the Orange African Cup of Nations (AFCON) soccer finals in Angola.

President Banda shares the view of other well-meaning soccer loving Zambians that there is need for continuity in the team as well as the coaching staff.

After the AFCON in Angola, Renard is undisputedly on demand with most teams yearning for his signature, and it is now up to the Zambians to convince him to stay on.

This must be a very difficult decision for Renard, who is torn between his affection for Zambia and the offers he has received from other teams, I can only remind Renard to seriously reflect as he ponders on his next move - how many heads of State would go as far as basically pleading for a coach to stay like the way President Banda has done.

I did not realise I stepped on some people’s toes over my prediction last week that Egypt would lift the African Cup of Nations title for a record seven times, three on the trot in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

Without taking anything away from the Ghanaians, I believe they played what I would call, superb football and did not deserve to lose, but that is football; the team that converts its chances into the most goals, wins.

Ghana, like Zambia created a myriad of chances; for Zambia unfortunately they only went up to the quarterfinal stage, which was quite a feat considering that the Chipolopolo had never gone past the preliminary stage since Burkina Faso ’98.

I have been citing an example to the arm-chair critics who feel going past the group stage in 14 years is not an achievement that, if a child had been passing two-number digits in class over time and then suddenly that child passes a one-number digit, definitely that child deserves commendation, knowing that the she/he has shown potential to improve in near future.

For me really, the Chipolopolo boys deserve more than a pat on the back for achieving the feat knowing fully well that, come next edition, they will do even far much better than a quarterfinal place.

I am still calling for the need for consistency in the team and the coaching staff; of course some of the players may wear-off along the way due to various factors, and team will be fused in with new ones; I therefore make an earnest appeal to FAZ to seriously look at the developmental sides, especially award-winning 2009 COSAFA champions.

I was talking about Ghana and Egypt, before I veered off; I was saying Ghana was a solid team and they created a myriad of chances; regrettably they did not convert any of those into goals and one silly mistake in defence cost them the title.

Egypt, I must confess had not shown the same character as Ghana, if anything they were outclassed, but they utilised their only possibility and it turned out to be the winner.

Others may say the referee was biased towards Egypt and so on; but referees, I must say, are very unpredictable characters, hence it is up to the players to play their game and convert their chances into goals.

I noticed something about the Ghanaian team - most of those players in the likes of Andre Ayew, son of legend Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew, Samuel Inkoom and Dominic Adiyiah etc are from the FIFA Under 20 World Cup dream team, give that team another two-three years, they will be a force to reckon with in African football. Email; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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