Clifford Mulenga has apologised to Zambia coach Herve Renard and the country for his expulsion from the 2012 Africa Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Mulenga told MTNFotball.com that he deeply regretted breaking team rules on January 30 in Malabo when he went out drinking with four other players after Zambia’s 1-0 win over co-hosts Equatorial Guinea.”I have no excuse for what I did.
All I wanna do now is to say I’m sorry to the coach Herve Renard, his technical bench, FAZ, my teammates, my parents, my siblings, my wife and daughter, my friends, my family and my fans,” Mulenga said.
“Not forgetting the Zambian Government because my actions not only affected, hurt and disgraced the people directly involved but the Zambian nation at large.”Mulenga, of South African Premiership club Bloemfontein Celtic, also asked for forgiveness from Renard, FAZ, his national teammates and the nation.Renard expelled Mulenga on January 31 after the team had returned to Bata after securing their quarterfinal qualification.
The Frenchman later declared that Mulenga would never play for Zambia for as long as he remained Chipolopolo coach. However, Renard spared Jonas Sakuwaha, Collins Mbesuma, Hichani Himoonde and Felix Katongo after reportedly showing remorse for their actions in Malabo.
“My behaviour was irresponsible, immature, disrespectful and an insult to the coach, the technical bench and my teammates,” Mulenga said.”And lastly, I just want to congratulate the coach and the guys for their wonderful courage and effort they showed by winning the African Cup of Nations for the first time in our history. They are real champions and legends.”
QFM
Why would a sportsman on national duty go out on a drinking spree? Ama Zambians putting akabwalwa first. This is what you get
Way to go young man.You lose nothing by appologizing.A big thumbs up.
This is better now Clifford. Pride neva helps at all, u did well my bro. God bless….
What an embecile! Thats when you think of apologising! Its too late mwaiche! We WON the AFCON Trophy without YOU> Discipline is paramount in life, without it you are DOOMED like you are right now. GET LOST
J COLE ulelanda kwati cipuba! You get lost
It’s good for you clifford,and you lose nothing by apologising .Renard should also open up his heart to the lad and make him useful to the nation as football player once more.Good luck
this boy shud b allwd 2 cum bak rena shud hv a 4gving heart
Thats a good spirit and lets hope the coach wil accept your appology.
Thats  the  only  way  forward, apology.  akasoni  ka  fwilile  mwibula. But , u  will  be  remembering  ur  foolishness  for  the  rest  of  life, and  the  happily  welcome  u  friends  got, when they  brought  that  Africa  cup trophy,
i we mulenga chachine ulichipuba sana, why didnt you apologies right way there? you thought you are very important? see what you have done to your life, family especially your kids and wife chimbwi iwe no plan mambala.you see this is what i cal selfish isntead of eating *****.
An apology is welcome. It is important that the coach now looks into forgiving and getting the young man back to his feet. Ubuwelewele te fintu. Thanks Clifford. Way to go!
You are forgiven and you should be part of the team. Let see who has a problem with that.Â
“My wife” – Is it Mampi? Mwaice never go back to Mampi; she is useless, save for the entertainment she gives to bachakolwa. I am sorry for you Clifford, you missed out on what would have been the greatest achievement of your career. Poor you !
is Mampi married????? please…. way to go clifford
All should be forgiven cos you have offered an apology. I as a fan forgive you and I do hope the coach accepts your apology as well.
It is nice that he has apologised…but for the sake of teaching a lesson to all the players, he should not be allowed back on the team…at least not now.
Being forgivrn does not mean he will be part of the team. he needs to earn the place. Alas! he needs to do more than others because is indiscipline and so we can only consider him if is an exceptionally talented being. but in this case I dont think so cikala wabwalwa sana
Iwe mwaice Mulenga, why did you wait for a long time to appologise ? wamona uku tumpa nomba !!! Bushe ninshi tawatontokente pa first ku cita appologisi ? what did you achive by waiting for so long ? nishi bwaiche ? indalama sha tax mwa bukingile indeke kuya ku gabon mu kwangala ???? u lekulako mwaice ! nga ule ponta mu life tawakamone bwino ku ntanshi ! follow the example of you friends who immediatly asked for forgiveness, you lose nothing by doing so! Chikala Mambala.
zambia is a christian nation,we dont need people who drink peer.he must apologise,recorded crying that he has stopped drinking beer and that he is now a born again,that is a good start clifford.never think you are too big.
id!ot! Â Typical Bemba arrogance.
Obviously you are Lozi, what has cliford being Bemba has to do with what he did? What of others he went with. One zamabia one nation mune you are the pipo practicing tribelism and should be discouraged by all means.
He can apoloise but being in the team is not automatic. The coach should require his services. He should try to prove himself in SA.
Its. really hard to imagine that these guys could not wait for the end of the tournament to start partying. Now, I know why we have been losing previous engagements.
Sorry Cliff you decided to join simata and kamanga just continue with your NFL behaviour you will forever be a looser anyway all the best.
forgiveness is a very vital element in being christian. The man is very remorseful and has shown diligence and maturity by apologising. Why shud we be busy singing the christian nation song and not put those same ethics into practise. Renard is a great coach but he shudnt be so cold to mulenga. Mind you he wasnt the only culprit.
Thumbs up double….this is what I expected from you.
I live by this Golden Rule…..
“The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest” Try it you’ll never be let down.
Way to go my boy.I can even invited you to come and touch my soft bums again like you did during afcon.
Way to go Son,shame the armchair critics
Well done Clifford although a bit late, which shows this action is an after thought. I am sure the Coach will forgive you but its not a guarantee that you will be called back, i believe the team is better off without you, your divisive character is not good for our champions’s team spirit, we are now a flying eagle. Wishing you all the best!!!!
This chap is indiscplined and that is that. Lets not get leniet with foolishness. Look we won because of discipline so lets not throw that away
Clifford get closer to Kalu there in RSA. Once you convince him that you are maturing then Renard will have less to do about your come back. We know you were stubborn since your talent was spotted somewhere at 16yrs old. But well, people still think Sata is a cobra, but they don’t realize that time pass and stubborn people maybe humbled by something or someone else.
This boy should be called back. I guess he has learnt something from the experience that no one is bigger that Zambia. Zambia can do without him. Mbesuma should be dropped from the team because he does not learn from the past. In angola mbesuma did the same. If Clifford do the same, no next time but out completely. VIVA ADD, VIVA Charles Milupi for 2016.
Nice headline….. “and a whole load of other people”Â
LOL!
How about just saying “and others”?Â
he is a fool big time
And give him the extra medal ………… he worked for it!
The first to apologize is the bravest.
The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.
it takes a lot of courage to apologize and it takes more discipline to earn your lost position. Mulenga, you will have to work extra hard to earn you place and convince the coach that he needs you. remember the egyptian guy who had a public row with the coach after being replaced by Army Zachy? the guy was benched indefinitely and egypt went on to win the tournament three times without him. see what you can do to avoid that.
That’s the way to go young man,sorry you missed being part of the winning team!I hope you’ll recover quickly from the guiltness!!!Goodluck.
What will haunt him for the rest of his life is the fact that he was not part of the victorious team when he should have been. Well, I suppose apologising belatedly is better than maintaining the arrogance. Please Renard, forgive Clifford and start a new chapter.
Abena Herve,umwaiche has apologised,let him play. Remember abena Gazza and others!
true man, more so that we forgave him after bailing out on us to angola.
Abena Herve,umwaiche has apologised,let him play. Remember abena Gazza and others! The boy has a lot to offer so forgive him.
Coz now it is threatening food on the table ? Imagine not being part of all that money your mates were given just for refusing to kneel down.
THIS IS WHAT PUTS AFRICA BEHIND THE WHOLE WORLD- LACK OF DISCIPLINE. I CONGRATULATE THE COACH FOR HAVING TAKEN A BOLD DICISION ON HIM. INSTRUCTIONS MUST BE ABLED AT ALL TIMES. FOOTBALLERS! IS IT UKUKANAYA KU SUKULU IN MOST OF THEM FOR THEIR BAD BEHAVIOUR OR WHAT? I RECOMMEND THE COACH TO CONTINUE WITH HIS STRICTNESS ON RULES.
I wonder if he still was going to apologise if Zambia did not win the cup…poor calculations mambala.
burry the hatchet!!! and move on.
Mambala, wants part of the $59,000 pay out. He sounds like he has been told to apologise. He told the world he was going to give his sside of the story what has changed ??? Wa chepa sana , u can fool others not me.
To err iz human. But now how can this FAZ fail to organize a friendly on this FIFA day when we are so very much on demand? Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast are all playing while our scandalous Football House wants our playerz to rest az if we only have 12-15 to chooze from. Soon we will start noze-diving on the rankingz due to innactivity.
His wife and daughter must be mad with him for missing out on teh glory and the cash. He must be full of shame at home. LOL
Forgive the Young Man Please!!!
Spare the rod and you will spoil the lad. Coach is right on! Need more such principled coaches to reign in ba chakolwa! The lad missed the ultimate reward of African football – The Africa Cup!
He can apologise all he wants BUT at the end of the Day its the Manager who chooses the team if he thinks clifford’s bad habits are infections the manager has a right NOT to pick him…reminds me of the likes of Nicolas Anelka was a very good player but has discipline issues especially in the dressing room.
Don’t be sidelined with these trivial issues instead focus on what Kalu & Co are going to do with that $2 million prize money when they are elected.
i heard he even brought a woman to his room to shag, echo mulefwila still young, too much indiscipline.
The ONLY reason will were played better than the rest at AFCON 2012 is that we had a very well-disciplined focused team a contrast to the last team we took to Angola, if you understand these issues then you also have focus required go self employed and run your own business successfully.Â
*The ONLY reason will played better
(Blame it on handheld devices)
The youngman has said “am very sory for what I did”. Let us accept the appology whole heartedly otherwise Jesus will never get our appolgies as well. He is only human and bound to make mistakes like everybody does. Its up to the authorities to kindly consider him for any little token they think he can be given. If the coach has been forgiven why not your own son?
The boy has said sorry. Its up to herve Renard to bring him back to the fold. If he proves to be unrepentant like William Tekere Banda the we can boot him out for good.
what about those who wanted Renard’s böood for making his decision? Dont you feel foolish now, you racist motherfathers? I told you that the boy was being arrogant. No he has shown remorse. Its a good move. No it is easier to forgive without threatening or compromising the team spirit or the principles and the code.
Hey ze young man has apologise & i have forgiven him. Ze only thing i can tell ze young man to work hard & be discipline to earn ze place in ze de team.
I personally like the guy, have always liked him since his 2007 under-20 Wolrd Cup perfomance. And I believe the torture he has undergone for not being part of the champions is terrible. I hope the coach forgives him and considers him in the matches to come. I also hope he works hard to impress the coach in terms of perfomance on the field. Otherwise the brother man has the talent. GOOD LUCKY CLIFORD.
OK WE WILL FORGIVE YOU BUT NO PAYMENTS HOW ABOUT THAT MY BOY.
I think this guy should be paid his money because he was involved in the qualifiers leading up to the finals. However, the decision for him to play for Zambia should be left to the coach alone
It does not hurt to apologise, well done Clifford.
It don’t hate to say sorry.. Don’t worry bout the money .. & glory u accepted the fault so u relieved now . It will hate u for life that u w r part of it , then missed out the party , life goes enjoy football that’s all u left with now . It’s sad wn u the subject . Live & Learn .. Keep yo head up & move on.. Life is precious everyday son.. Cheer up
ok but we don’t need you in the squard,we have to give chance to other young players who needs to lean from your silly mistake.am sure this is not the first time you have done this.keep on studing as you claim to be studing and that’s why you are stuborn,leave the game for those who have passion to play for our mother zambia period.
:-?
Forgiven, i was disappointed when u instead apologized to ur coach at Celtic Bloemfontein, instead of Herve, all the same forgiven. Do i hear someone saying should now be given ur medal? NO! u missed it by an inch. “Nguluwe inalira msampha untaning’a”
Again u are forgiven
we chipumbuwe!!!!! walipanya mambala!!!!!!