Renard begins treble-chasing journey Zaha to make competitive debut

OYEM. — The only certainty in hard-to-predict Group C of the Africa Cup of Nations before the opening fixtures today is that Morocco coach Herve Renard will wear the same white shirt on match days.

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 twotime champions the Ivory Coast are in Group C, based in northern Gabonese town Oyem.

The Democratic Republic of OYEM. — Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha is set to make his competitive debut for Ivory Coast as they begin their defence of the Africa Cup of Nations title.

Zaha switched international allegiance from England ahead of the tournament and already has an assist and a goal from his two warm-up appearances.

Togo will be skippered by striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who has not had club since leaving Crystal Palace in June.

Coach Claude LeRoy is making a record-extending ninth finals appearance. The Belgian, who won the title in 1988 and has only

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.

Tonight the pursuit of quarter-finals places begins with a once failed to reach the quarter-finals, will be eager to take Togo deep into the tournament.

However, the Sparrow Hawks have never won the competition and their best result was reaching the quarter-finals in 2013.

Ivory Coast have won the Nations Cup twice, defeating Ghana after marathon penalty shootouts in Senegal (1992) and in Equatorial Guinea (2015) following goalless draws.

The Elephants were ranked second in Africa and 34th in the world by Fifa this month, while Togo were 23rd in Africa and 90th in the world. And the Ivorians have

double-header featuring the Ivory Coast against Togo and DR Congo against Morocco at a 20 000-seater stadium built for the tournament.

Moroccan officials set the bar high for Renard when he signed up early last year, demanding at never lost to Togo in four previous meetings at the Nations Cup finals. They have won 3-0 (1984) and 2-1 (2013) and drawn 1-1 (2000) and 0-0 (2002).

Ivory Coast coach Michel Dussuyer: “The objective is to retain the title so proudly won two years ago. It will not be easy as there are some great teams in Gabon.”

Togo captain Adebayor: “When I view the Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal squads, I realise we are not among the best on paper, but there will be 23 highly committed Togolese footballers at the Africa Cup of Nations.” — BBC.

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 top-two Group C finish for now and a ticket to the knockout phase.

“I think qualification for the quarter-finals 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.”

Injuries that ruled out four players, including star playmaker Younes Belhanda, have posed the biggest pre-tournament problem for Renard.

For Ibenge, there was the frustration of seeing a long-standing African football sore point — match bonuses — make an untimely reappearance two days before tackling Morocco. The squad refused to train with captain Yousef Mulumbu saying: “It has been the same for years, we prepare well and then there is a problem over bonuses.” — SuperSport.