LIBREVILLE - Coach Herve Renard hailed the spirit of his Zambian side after their unexpected African Cup of Nations (ACN) success. Zambia beat Côte d'Ivoire 8-7 in a drama-filled penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw to win the Cup for the first time. Stoppila Sunzu converted the winning kick in a long and nervy shootout that totalled 18 kicks. The 43-year-old Frenchman, who has only been a senior coach for four years, said he evoked the memory of the 18 Zambia players who died in an air crash in Gabon in 1993 to spur on his side during the tournament co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. "They found the strength, I don't know where," he said fighting back the tears. "There is something written somewhere. It just felt right but it was not because of me, I don't know where it came from. "We were talking about it right from the time we started our preparations on Dec. 28. "I told them if we got to the final we would play in Gabon where the plane crashed and our first match was against Senegal, where the team was headed to play. There was a special significance in that." Zambia had gone into the game as underdogs but won over the 40,000 crowd in the Friendship Stadium in the Gabon capital with their positive play against a surprisingly timid Ivorian side. "My players were magnificent," said Renard. "We were not the best but we had a force that has made us African champions. "They might make some tactical mistakes here and there but you can see the talent." Drogba ghosts return as Zambia win shootout Didier Drogba's ghosts returned to haunt him as Zambia won the ACN for the first time after beating Côte d'Ivoire 8-7 in a drama-filled penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw. Stoppila Sunzu converted the winning penalty after three successive efforts had been missed in a long and nervy shootout that totalled 18 kicks. But the goalless match might not have had to go to the shootout had Drogba not ballooned a 70th-minute penalty well wide to deny his team victory inside 90 minutes, repeating his miss in the 2006 final which the Ivorians lost to Egypt. The loss was another near miss for the Ivorian's golden generation, who had been expected to win African football's top prize at the last four editions but failed every time. Two of their English Premier League players - Kolo Toure and Gervinho - missed kicks in the shootout. "We did not play well but we also had our chances. It is a huge disappointment, we had expected a different outcome," Ivorian coach Francois Zahoui said. Zambia, who had gone into the game as underdogs, won over the 40,000 crowd in the Friendship Stadium in the Gabon capital with their positive play against a surprisingly timid Ivorian side who failed to take the initiative in the game. "We told ourselves we would not be scared of them. We knew we had the team to win this and we wanted to make sure we did," goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene said. After winning, the Zambian team held up banners remembering their side that died in a air crash not far from the stadium in 1993 and whose memory they had honoured on the eve of the game. "I can't explain why we won, it was like there was special force with us," added a teary coach Herve Renard. At times, Zambia showed complete disdain for their star-studded opponents, with showy tricks on the ball and some clever routines although they also lived dangerously in defence. Yaya Toure and substitute Max Gradel both went narrowly wide for the Ivorians but it was Drogba who could have been the hero after Isaac Chansa had pushed down Gervinho in the penalty area in the 70th minute and the Senegal referee Badara Diatta bravely awarded a penalty. But Drogba hit his shot well over and then seemed to sink into a sulk for the rest of the game. He was brave enough, however, to take the fifth penalty for the Ivorians in the shootout. The first 14 kicks were successfully converted before a reluctant Kolo Toure had his shot saved at 7-7 but Rainford Kalaba then missed for Zambia. Gervinho, who also did not want to take a kick, then missed before Sunzu won the cup for Zambia, who had suffered two previous defeats in the 1974 and 1994 finals. It was the seventh Nations Cup final to be decided on penalties. The most recent was when Egypt beat the Ivorians 5-3 in the 2006 final, which also ended goalless.
