Joy Sports Africa focus: Meet Hervé Renard, Morocco's magician

Morocco are one of the three North African teams to qualify for the World Cup in Russia - and one of the teams Joy Sports will be providing special coverage on.

A testament of how North African countries are becoming the pinnacle of African football. After a twenty year absence in the World Cup, it looks like Morocco have been erased from the global stage. However, they will participate in this World Cup and their coach, Hervé Renard is a key reason why.

Hervé Renard was appointed in February 2016 to replace Badou Zaki. A year later, the Atlas Lions participated in the 2017 African Cup of Nations. Unfortunately, Renard’s men were knocked out in the quarter finals by the eventual champions, Egypt.

However, this setback did not prevent Morocco from qualifying to the 2018 World Cup. The Atlas Lions did not concede a single goal throughout their qualifiers, a record that shows their solidarity as a team.

This comes as no surprise considering the fact that Hervé Renard played as defender during his time as a player.

PREVIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS

Hervé Renard is no stranger to African football. Morocco is the 4th African country he has managed. He previously managed Angola (2010), Zambia (2008-2010 & 2011-2013) and Ivory Coast (2014-2015).

In 2010, during Renard’s first spell at Zambia, he took the Chipolopolo to their first ever quarter final appearance in the African Cup. As if that wasn’t enough, two years later, Renard shocked the World by winning the African Cup of Nations with Zambia.

This was a very emotional moment for the people of Zambia as the win was dedicated to the 18 players who lost their lives in the 1993 air crash. In 2014, Renard was appointed as the head coach of the Ivory Coast team. He had a huge task ahead of him as the golden generation of Ivory Coast were underperforming.

With Renard’s track record with Zambia, Ivory Coast were always favourites for the 2015 African Cup of Nations. Renard met expectations by winning the 2015 African Cup with the Elephants.

This incredible feat saw Renard’s name written in the history books of Africa as the only coach to win two African Cup of Nations with different countries. With such an extraordinary CV in the African football context, it came as no surprise when Morocco appointed Hervé Renard.

TACTICAL PHILOSOPHY OVER THE YEARS

Hervé Renard places a lot of emphasis on solidarity. His teams usually defend as a unit and attack as a unit. Renard is the type of coach who would pick a 1-0 win over a 4-3 win.

Although he enjoys it when his team scores, a clean sheet is always the first task at hand for every match. Renard’s national teams over the years have been very difficult to beat, they set up in a very compact manner with each player working extremely hard.

Out of 23 Africa Cup of Nation matches, Renard has lost just three matches so far. Whilst managing Zambia in 2012 African Cup of Nations, conceded three goals in the group stage and conceded none in the knockout stages as Zambia were crowned champions.

Similarly, in the 2015 African Cup of Nations, Renard’s Ivory Coast team conceded just 4 goals as they were also crowned champions of Africa. Surprisingly, Morocco topped their qualification group which was made up of Ivory Coast, Gabon and Mali. What was even more surprising was the fact that Hervé Renard’s men did not concede a goal in the process of qualifying to Russia.

All these instances give us a fair idea of the defensive solidarity of Hervé Renard’s team and considering the fact that Morocco will be in the same group with Spain and Portugal, we can expect more of this defensive discipline.

HOW HIS TEAM GOING TO RUSSIA ARE LIKELY TO PLAY 

The Atlas Lions will most likely stick to what they know best and this is keeping it tight at the back.

They face Iran in their first match, a must win match. Morocco do not just have to win but they also have to win big to stand any chance of qualifying.

After playing Iran, their two remaining matches would be against Spain and Portugal – these matches would be very difficult to win for Morocco.

Due to this, Renard’s men would have to defend really deep and take their chances. Hervé Renard has made a lot of changes in the Moroccan national team since taking over.

His two defensive midfielders Mbark Boussoufa and Karim El Ahmadi have been stripped of their attacking duties and they basically just sit in front of the back four.

Also, Renard has deployed Achraf Hakimi as a left-back. Hakimi’s pace enables him to make runs down the wings. These runs allow key man Hakim Ziyech to come inside and influence the play more.

Renard has also transformed Romain Saïss from a defensive midfielder into a center-back. Saiss is very dominant in the air therefore granting the Moroccan backline more prowess in the air. Nabil Dirar, a former winger has also been converted into a right-back. He is given the license to run down the flanks and deliver crosses for target man Khalid Boutaïb. 

Hervé Renard plays a 4-2-3-1 formation with this Moroccan team, a very flexible formation which switches to a 442 in defensive scenarios and 433 in attacking scenarios.

With the 2 defensive midfielders sitting deep,  the full backs will be given the freedom to attack and feed Khalid Boutaïb. Renard will be depending a lot on Ziyech, Belhanda and Amrabat to create goal scoring chances for Khalid Boutaïb in Russia.

HERVE, THE MAN

Although Hervé Renard is a very highly respected coach, he is yet to enjoy any major success at club level.

He has managed seven clubs namely: SC Draguignan, Cambridge United, Song Da Nam Dinh, AS Cherbourg, USM Alger, Sochaux and Lille.

He spent just a few months USM Alger, Cambridge United and Song Da Nam Dinh. Renard’s time at Sochaux was a very unsuccessful as Sochaux got relegated at the end of that season. His last club was experience was with Lille where he was sacked after managing 13 points in two games.

However, the story is completely different when it comes to national teams. He has won the African Cup of Nations twice with Zambia and Ivory Coast respectively.

With Zambia and Ivory Coast, Renard won a trophy by his second year and it has been two since he was appointed as coach of the Atlas Lions. Can Renard continue with his incredible national team record?

--

Read Full Story