Zambia coach Herve Renard has backed his team to beat Ghana in Bata today and billed their African Nations Cup semi-final as the biggest game of his career.

This comes as Zambian soccer players reportedly reaped over $20,000 each for reaching the 2012 Orange Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-finals.

The Chipolopolo players are believed to have pocketed about $10,000 each for qualifying for the quarter-finals and an extra $13,000 for being among the last four teams at the competition co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Zambia finished top of Group A ahead of Equatorial Guinea, Libya and the overrated, Senegal.

The Chipolopolo then went on to knock out Sudan in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 thumping at the Estadio de Bata here.

More incentives were being dangled to the team, which has been a talking point here after initially being regarded as underdogs prior to the tournament.

Insiders within the team said rewarding the players was meant to motivate them as they strive to get a historic AFCON title.

The sources said each player was assured of receiving at least $59,000 cumulative by the time the tournament ends in Libreville, Gabon on Sunday.

“It is the most important game of my career,” the Frenchman told www.cafonline.com. “I experienced the semi-final as an assistant with Ghana in 2008.”

“When you play at the semis, your target is to reach the final and we are going to do that.

“Ghana are the best team in terms of consistency in Africa and are favourites. I was with them in 2008 and 80% of the current side were part of that team.

“We won’t give up for anything. Also, we have to be tactically efficient.”

Renard warned his team should not be underestimated just because of their lack of star names.

He added: “We have no big names and the star is the team. Players like Emmanuel Mayuka, Christopher Katongo, and Rainford Kalaba are often underrated because they are not playing in major leagues abroad, but they are very good players.

“I have a good base of players who can deliver the result. I told my players we have a few days to go and they have to sacrifice for the country and make all Zambians proud.

“We have a chance to win the title. Zambia lost in two finals (in 1974 and 1994) and this generation can go the extra mile than their predecessors.”

Ghana have had less time to prepare for the game, with their quarter-final – in which they needed extra-time to see off Tunisia 2-1 – taking place the day after Zambia’s.

The Black Stars did not even have time to train yesterday as they had to travel to Equatorial Guinea for the semi-final.

Assistant coach Kwesi Appiah told www.ghanafa.org: “The difficult part is that most of our players have played about three or four games now and sometimes it’s really difficult to get them to play at their maximum as you want in every game.

“The most important thing is making sure that they recuperate very well and make sure that they are in a good condition before the next game.

“It’s not going to be easy to get everything the way you want, but we would make sure they are all fully fit for our next game against Zambia.”

The winners will take on either Ivory Coast or Mali in the final in Libreville, Gabon, on Sunday.