The Copper Bullets’ recent record in ACN finals doesn’t inspire a huge amount of confidence. They have, admittedly, been regular qualifiers, only missing out in 2004 so far this century. But first round exit has been their lot otherwise.

French coach Herve Renard has publicly made ‘spoiling’ this record of consistency his target for the tournament. He said: “The target is to reach the second round, but it won’t be easy.” And, as if to emphasise the point, he virtually said it again, adding: “Playing three good teams is not easy but the target is simple.”

Their preparations have not been smooth. Their squad bad boy was 30-year-old German-based Andrew Sinkala, who was left out of Zambia’s last qualifier against Rwanda and the squad for Angola after a dispute with the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) over players’ remuneration. It would have been the Augsburg midfielder’s fourth African Nations Cup finals.

Renard refused to confirm the reasons for Sinkala’s omission, which rather confirmed that it was for other than footballing reasons.

Zambia’s schedule of warm-up matches has also been hit, with a 1-0 win over Mozambique the only survivor of a planned three-match programme.

Zambian football memories still go back to April 1993 when almost an entire squad tragically died in a plane crash in Gabon on the way to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal. The re-assembled squad provided a fitting tribute to the fallen, by reaching the final of the ACN the following year.

Zambia were quarter-finalists in 1996, but haven’t passed the finals’ group stages since. The current squad of mostly domestic and South African-based players will have to go some to end that sequence in Angola.