Burkina Faso secured first place in Group C with a goalless draw against Zambia in the final group stage match of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. This result also meant elimination for Zambia, the defending champions. Hervé Renard, the coach of Zambia, shared his thoughts on the team’s performance:
“Our opponent played with his athletic qualities on a complicated football pitch for us. When we don’t score a goal, we put it down to clumsiness. We must not look for excuses when there is a failure. You can’t always win in football. We were expected after what we did, and I think we were in a group where normally we should have qualified easily. But we failed to produce our game even though we were in South Africa on the best grounds.”
Renard acknowledges the expectations placed on Zambia, especially given their previous success in the tournament. However, the team struggled to perform at their best during the group stage, leading to their elimination. The coach emphasizes that in football, there are moments of success and failure, and this tournament did not go as planned for Zambia.
