{"id":10583,"date":"2026-01-08T05:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/10583\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:02:22","slug":"world-cup-shines-as-new-objective-for-congo-after-africa-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/10583\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup shines as new objective for Congo after Africa Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

RABAT, Morocco (AP) \u2014 The World Cup glitters as a new objective for Congo after its elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations.<\/p>\n

Algeria substitute Adil Boulbina\u2019s last-gasp extra-time rocket<\/a> ended Congo\u2019s Africa Cup hopes in the last 16 on Tuesday, but the Leopards\u2019 attention has quickly switched to a bigger prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must thoroughly analyze what didn\u2019t work because some things didn\u2019t work,\u201d Congo coach S\u00e9bastien Desabre said. \u201cAnd immediately focus on a very, very important objective that awaits us in March.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congo can clinch one of the last qualification places for the World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States with a win over New Caledonia or Jamaica in a playoff in Mexico on March 31.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful competition,\u201d Congo captain Chancel Mbemba said of the Africa Cup. \u201cBut we still have a last competition, a final game, if God wants it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mbemba knows all about last-gasp winners as it was his stoppage-time goal that helped defeat Cameroon 1-0 in the African World Cup playoff semifinal. <\/p>\n

The Leopards then defeated Nigeria in a penalty shootout \u2013 opposition coach \u00c9ric Chelle claimed \u201csome voodoo\u201d at work<\/a> \u2013 to advance to the intercontinental playoffs. Mbemba again sealed the win.<\/p>\n

Congolese progress<\/p>\n

Congo has developed into one of the continent\u2019s strongest sides in recent years. It finished second behind unbeaten Senegal in its World Cup qualifying group. <\/p>\n

Supported by a living statue of slain independence hero Patrice Lumumba<\/a> at the Africa Cup, Congo started with a win over Benin, drew with 2021 winner Senegal, then defeated Botswana 3-0 to reach the last 16.<\/p>\n

Congo reached the semifinals at the last edition in Ivory Coast, where the players wore black armbands<\/a> to highlight the armed conflict in the east of the country. Mbemba and forward C\u00e9dric Bakambu have also used social media to bring attention<\/a> to the fighting.<\/p>\n

The Congo team\u2019s on-field successes have helped keep international attention on the central African country<\/a>, and consequently on the humanitarian crisis. World Cup qualification could bring more exposure.<\/p>\n

Youngsters proud to play for Congo<\/p>\n

The team has benefitted from the Congolese diaspora across Europe. The 21-year-old Noah Sadiki, born in Brussels, could have played for Belgium but he opted to represent the country of his parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a personal choice,\u201d Sadiki told reporters last week. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t force anyone to choose Congo. I made that decision of my own free will. There\u2019s a new generation that wants to help the people of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belgian-born goalkeeper Matthieu Epolo (20) and midfielder Mario Stroeykens (21) also chose Congo.<\/p>\n

Future looks bright<\/p>\n

Experienced French coach Desabre has moulded a committed side that\u2019s proving very hard to beat. Only wayward finishing let the team down against Algeria.<\/p>\n

Desabre, who has been in charge since 2022, said stability was key to the team\u2019s development, being allowed the time to put changes in place, for bonds between the players and technical staff to grow, and to recover from setbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very optimistic for Congolese football because we haven\u2019t yet fully exploited the potential for growth in the academies, the local league, all this local talent that will bring even more strength to Congo in the years to come,\u201d Desabre said before the Algeria game.<\/p>\n

The coach said Congo was still behind the likes of Senegal and Cameroon, where players learn vital skills in academies before going on to play in the stronger European leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very optimistic because there\u2019s still this lever that will become active in Congo and that will make the team even stronger in the years to come,\u201d Desabre said.<\/p>\n

But, first, there\u2019s a World Cup ticket up for grabs.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery one of us will return, we\u2019ll work. We\u2019ll ask God to keep every player fit. And \u2013 if God wants it \u2013 in the last match, everything is possible,\u201d Mbemba said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP at the Africa Cup: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/africa-cup-of-nations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RABAT, Morocco (AP) \u2014 The World Cup glitters as a new objective for Congo after its elimination from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1452,63,146,596,5662,7344,6781,7343,6831,6821,3991,5658,6845,6812,2610,6805,323,264],"class_list":{"0":"post-10583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa","8":"tag-adil-boulbina","9":"tag-africa","10":"tag-africa-cup-of-nations","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-cedric-bakambu","13":"tag-central-america","14":"tag-fifa-world-cup","15":"tag-latin-america","16":"tag-mario-stroeykens","17":"tag-matthieu-epolo","18":"tag-mexico","19":"tag-mexico-city","20":"tag-new-caledonia","21":"tag-noah-sadiki","22":"tag-patrice-lumumba","23":"tag-sbastien-desabre","24":"tag-soccer","25":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}