Morocco’s Renard chases treble
The only certainty in hard-to-predict Group C of the Africa Cup of Nations before the opening fixtures on Monday is that Morocco coach Herve Renard will wear the same white shirt on matchdays.
He wore one in every match when outsiders Zambia shredded the form book in 2012 to win the premier African national team football competition for the only time.
And the 48-year-old Frenchman repeated the act two years ago as he transformed perennial underachievers the Ivory Coast into continental champions.
Renard is the only coach to win the competition with different countries and success for him in Gabon would equal the three-title record shared by Ghanaian Charles Gyamfi and Egyptian Hassan Shehata.
Morocco, whose lone African success came 41 years ago, and two-time champions the Ivory Coast are in Group C, based in northern Gabonese town Oyem.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, third at the last Africa Cup, and dangerous outsiders Togo complete the line-up in arguably the toughest of the four first-round mini-leagues.
Today, the pursuit of quarterfinals places begins with a double-header featuring the Ivory Coast against Togo and DR Congo against Morocco at a 20 000seat stadium built for the tournament.
Moroccan officials set the bar high for Renard when he signed up early last year, demanding at least a last-four finish in the Cup of Nations and qualification for the 2018 World Cup.
Blond and bronzed, Renard is not looking beyond a toptwo Group C finish for now and a ticket to the knockout phase.
“I think qualification for the quarterfinals is our minimum objective. We have prepared well and will be ready for the Congolese,” said the one-time Paris rubbish collector.
Congolese Florent Ibenge, one of four local coaches among the 16 at the tournament, was not giving much away either.
“This will be a very tough group to qualify from,” he predicted. “All the teams are good and I am expecting tight matches.”