DR Congo Coach, Desabre Warns Nigeria: ‘We Will Be Valiant, Combative’

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one step away from history. On Sunday, the Leopards will face Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the playoff final that could secure their ticket to the intercontinental play-offs in Mexico next March.

For Head Coach Sébastien Desabre, the challenge is clear: his team must finally prove they can beat one of Africa’s Top 5 sides in the FIFA-CAF rankings.

The Leopards’ last triumph against a Top 5 team came on October 15, 2014, when they stunned Côte d’Ivoire 4-3 in Abidjan at the Félix-Houphouët-Boigny Stadium. Eleven years later, the nation waits for another breakthrough.

The stakes go far beyond qualification. This final is about confirming the rebirth of the Congolese national team after years of absence from the forefront. The painful memory of the 3-2 defeat against Senegal at the Martyrs’ Stadium, in front of more than one million fans, still lingers.

‘We’re going to do a twelfth Sunday, it’s a long journey. We have quality, if we are connected, tactically rigorous enough, we have the weapons to be able to do what we did, which is to exist in a very good African football match.’

‘For some time now, there have been young people who are starting to come, who are brought in to get them into the swing of things little by little, it makes a collective. We are like what we were at the last AFCON.’

‘We will focus on performing well from Sunday because we will play a good Nigeria team as well. Nigeria remains the best in Africa. Teams that are ahead of us in the FIFA rankings, we know that we still have room for improvement.’

‘We have experienced players. What is put in place is not overnight. We have been working for three years to be capable, strong, against teams like Cameroon and to beat this kind of team.’

‘We know that we are progressing to play a World Cup in a hat. The goal within six years is to be at least in the top nine. We are moving forward, we are taking a good step today, and we will have a team against Nigeria to show what we are capable of.’

‘Whatever happens, we’re going to throw ourselves into the game. Against Senegal, we were five minutes away from the World Cup. They had taken a few steps back. We are one step away from this famous dam in Mexico. We will play our luck seriously like the opponent. We will be valiant, combative,’ Desabre told DR Congo newspaper, actualite.cd.