Ivory Coast coach Herve Renard believes his side are being spurred on by their past disappointments at the African Cup of Nations.

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Expectation is again growing around the Ivorians as they prepare to face DR Congo in the semi-finals in Bata on Wednesday night.

The Elephants have long been regarded as one of the strongest sides in Africa – and travelled to World Cups in hope of impressing – but they have not won their continental title since 1992.

They have twice come close in recent times but lost on penalties in the finals of both 2006 and 2012.

“I don’t want to talk about 2012,” said Renard, coach of the title-winning Zambia side that year. “History is different. Some of my players have a lot of experience, some of which is bad.

“In life, you can change your bad experience to good and can use bad memory to improve.”

Ivory Coast, who will face a DR Congo side they are familiar with having met twice in qualifying. The Ivorians won 2-1 in Kinshasa but were stunned 4-3 back in Abidjan.

DR Congo should also be in high spirits after their stunning quarter-final win over Congo, when they recovered from 2-0 down to win 4-2.

Leopards coach Florent Ibenge said: “We are not disrespectful. We know Ivory Coast have been to the World Cup and finished ahead of us in the qualifiers. They’re a great team, though under construction.”