WHEN RENARD COACHED RED ARROWS — LESSON FOR THE COPPER QUEENS
So back in 2009, Herve Renard became Red Arrows Football Club coach.
Yes. He became the coach of Red Arrows.
Now, how did this happen?
Well, Red Arrows were participating in the CAF Confederations Cup and had just lost the first leg of their game against Egyptian club ENPPI 4-0 in Egypt.
Arrows, who were under serious pressure, wanted to overturn the loss.
They looked to a man no one expected, and that man was Zambia National Team Coach Herve Renard.
Renard agreed, and that’s how he was roped into the team.
Now, some will argue that he was brought in as a technical advisor, and the purpose of this post is not to debate the title he was given.
What we do know is that Renard took charge of the team, trained it leading up to the game, and was on the touchline.
Arrows played the game of their lives, Timothy Mbewe scored a hat-trick, and the Airmen won 3-0, but it was not enough as they went out 4-3 on aggregate.
Everyone, however, congratulated Arrows on such a comeback, and Renard started getting recognised as a brilliant coach.
I was in Livingstone at the time, and while I didn’t watch the match live, I remember sitting down and watching the highlights on ZNBC News, with Timothy Mbewe’s goal being among my all-time favourite goals scored by a Zambian player.
Anyway.
So why do I bring this up, and what does this have to do with the Copper Queens?
1. RETURN TO THE PRESENT
Yesterday, after Zambia’s loss to Nigeria, I listened to Coach Norah’s press briefing.
And there is something she said that struck me.
She said that the players failed to follow her tactics, and in a sense, that’s what made Zambia lose.
It got me thinking about how present Coach Norah has been with the Copper Queens over the last year and six months.
She has been in charge for 17 games now and has missed something like 7 or 8 games.
The coach may have a point about the players not following instructions, but she could have been involved with the team much more.
2. WHY RENARD, BRUCE, AND OTHERS SUCCEEDED
Now, don’t get me wrong.
I understand that coaches may have reasons why they are not present at all national team engagements.
But Norah not being present at the COSAFA Women’s Championship was a setback, as this was where she could have moulded the team.
For Herve Renard, he was available for all COSAFA and CECAFA tournaments when he was coach.
He was available to coach Red Arrows, and he even coached the Zambia Under-20s, as well as going across the country to scout players.
That period at Red Arrows showed just how committed he was to Zambian football — he wasn’t just around when the National team was playing.
He was on the ground helping a club. Some of the players he worked with there went on to play for him with the national team, and helped build what we now know as the 2012 AFCON-winning squad.
That squad came out of years of knowing players, not a few weeks of assembling one before a tournament.
He went above and beyond his job description, and this was how he easily identified Nathan Sinkala ahead of the 2012 AFCON.
Renard watched and followed the Zambian league, and he knew its players. And this isn’t just about him — Zambian football has had other coaches over the years who went above and beyond in the same way.
Coach Norah hardly watches the Zambian Women’s leagues.
While relying on assistants to select players is fine, there is just something a player feels when a coach goes out of their way to watch them play.
Again, Renard would personally go to matches to call up Zambian-based players, and he didn’t stop at the border — he followed a good number of Zambian players outside the country too.
When he took over the national team, he called up several players who surprised a lot of people at the time, players who’d been considered fringe or overlooked before that.
Because he’d been watching them consistently, not just when a tournament came around, a number of them went on to move abroad and become core players for Zambia.
Coach Norah, on the other hand, usually highlights foreign-based players.
Zambian-based players would fight for Renard because of the way he would follow them up.
Same thing for the late Bruce Mwape.
He may not have been the most tactical coach, but players would fight when playing under him and he had his own eye for spotting talent too.
This is something that’s been missing from the Copper Queens.
Now, I’ll admit this is a pattern I’ve noticed watching Zambian football over the years.
Im not saying that going above and beyond or watching league ganes is what will get results
But its a strategy that has worked in Zambia for over 50 yeqrs from Ante Buselic doubling as Zambia National team coch as well as Green Buffalos or Ndola Unites advisor when he was available.
Now again. Im not saying that a Coach should now started helping clubs as times have changed and what was legal then may not work today.
What we can say however is that being physically on the ground helps a coach far much more.
3. CREATING NEW STARS
Its these trips to Zambian Clubs to watch them train and play to talk and interact with players and coaches that helped Renard identify Nathan Sinkala.
I haven’t seen it with the Copper Queens or maybe Ive missed it
If your players are not following instructions then find and mould others.
And if you follow the Zambian womens league consistently, you’ll notice there are already people raising concerns about players being overlooked — asking how the coach hasn’t picked up on certain players who are clearly performing.
CONCLUSION
Looking back at all the success, one thing was that Renard was always physically around Zambian football.
It’s a tradition many Zambia national team coaches have followed in the past, as they went above and beyond.
As for Coach Norah, her concerns about players not playing to instruction may be valid — but that complaint only holds up if she’s put in the same work.
Is she in and around these players outside of tournaments?
Has she gone to watch them train at their clubs, sat with them, gotten to know who they are as people and not just names on a squad list?
Because if the answer is that she only turns up when a tournament starts, then the players not following her instructions isn’t just on them.
WHEN RENARD COACHED RED ARROWS — LESSON FOR THE COPPER QUEENS
