The Democratic Republic of Congo faces favorite Morocco on Sunday at 3 p.m. in San-Pédro. The Leopards, held by Zambia (1-1) on the first day, will have a hard time facing the Atlas Lions, easy winners of Tanzania (3-0). Above all, this African Cup of Nations serves as a stepping stone in their quest for a longer-term sporting objective: qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
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A plan that is going smoothly “a little faster than expected”. This is how coach Sébastien Desabre describes his adventure with DR Congo. For the Frenchman, this CAN 2024 is already a bonus and the confrontation with Morocco, big favorite of the competition, will be Sunday January 21 a great opportunity to gauge the progress of the Leopards, whose influence in Africa has declined in recent years.
But what was this plan? “The objective was to perform in the 2025 CAN and to go to the 2026 World Cup. Today, it happened a little faster than expected,” explains the 47-year-old technician to a few media, including AFP. “We have had very good results in official matches since I took charge of this team.”
The recovery of the DR Congo
When he arrived in the summer of 2022, leaving Niort (French Ligue 2) in the middle of August, DR Congo had lost its first two qualifying matches for this African Cup, against Gabon (0-1) at home and in Sudan (2-1).
Pragmatic, Sébastien Desabre took an overview of his potential squad then tried his hand by coaching the CHAN 2022 team, an A’ team made up of local players. The Leopards finish last in their group but the march forward is underway.
Sébastien Desabre has considerably rejuvenated the group. Only three players remain from the Leopards’ last participation in the African Cup of Nations: leaders Cédric Bakambu and Chancel Mbemba, and defender Arthur Masuaku.
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“We have certain offensive qualities”
The next step was a qualification for the CAN, after having missed the one in Cameroon. Being part of the Ivory Coast allowed Sébastien Desabre and his team “to be able to work a little more (…). My team will gain a lot of experience. There are a lot of players who are discovering their first CAN”.
This is the case of Samuel Moutoussamy. “The coach has brought order, he has brought rigor and organization into the team, into our game and also around it,” says the FC Nantes player. “It’s something that was very important for us. We are very happy with that and especially because the results followed.”
“We play forward because we have certain offensive qualities. We have players who know how to score goals, who know how to create chances. So we have to play with the nature of these players and that’s what the coach is trying to do”, continues Samuel Moutoussamy.
To test the offensive qualities of his team, Sébastien Desabre, who has been coaching in Africa since 2010 with two seasons at ASEC Abidjan, precisely in Ivory Coast, plus stints at Dubai Club (2015-2016) and Chamois Niortais ( 2020-2022), is delighted to compete against “the best African team at the moment”.
“Ambition” against Morocco
“We are happy, really happy to play this Moroccan team, because it also gives us the opportunity to show what we are capable of against good teams,” he says. “It’s always important for us to evaluate our team against this kind of opponent.”
The fourth place finishers at the last World Cup in Qatar form “a collective team. They don’t have many weak points,” notes Sébastien Desabre.
But “we are going there with a game project, with something which, we hope, will put this team in difficulty. We are going there with ambition”, he assures, “even if they remain the favorites of the competition, the favorites of the meeting”.
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For Morocco, DR Congo will be an opponent of a higher caliber than Tanzania in its conquest of an African Cup of Nations which has eluded it since 1976.
Sébastien Desabre hopes to experience success with the Leopards. He has already shone at CAN-2019 with Uganda, eliminated in the round of 16 by Senegal. To date, this is the best result for the “Cranes” in 41 years. He aims at least as well with DR Congo – and especially further afield, towards the North American World Cup.
With AFP