Renard happy with performance
Chipolopolo Coach Herve Renard said he was satisfied with his team's performance after he watched his charges battle to a goalless draw against Norway at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Saturday.
Renard told fazfootball.com in a post match interview that the Norwegians were disciplined and managed to contain Zambia's attacks very well. He added that it was always difficult to produce a good result when one has to make a lot of substitutions in a single match.
"Today we did not score any goals but we are on the right track. We are keeping goals for the final tournament," said Renard jokingly.
"We started with Mayuka upfront because he joined us late and we wanted to give him some game time. Jacob Mulenga came on as a substitute because he also joined the squad late and has yet to show us that he is fit to start.
"All in all we are satisfied with our preparations and I have a lot of confidence in my players," said the Africa Cup of Nations winning coach.
On winning the opening match against Ethiopia, the African Coach of the Year said it was important for his team to start the title defence on a good note.
"Ethiopia is a good team and we have a lot of respect for them because they have a lot of skilled players. They drew away to South Africa in the 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifiers and they qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations finals tournament after they defeated Sudan."
"Physically we are ready for any team. Tactically and technically we need to find a winning formula. We need to learn how to finish in front of goal and how to finish off the game.
"In 2010 were drew our first match against Tunisia and we went on to finish top of the group. In 2012 we had a good result in our opening match against Senegal and that gave us a lot of confidence and we also finished top of our group."
"Finishing top is going to be tough. We want to finish first in our group but it is not going to be easy to realise but that is our target.
And Norway Coach Egil Olsen said he was satisfied with the performance of his charges.
"We didn't create too much but we had a decent performance. We were disciplined defensively against a good Zambian side."
