DR Congo are set to face Jamaica in Tuesday’s intercontinental play-off final.
The Leopards hope that victory will end a 52-year wait to reach the World Cup, guaranteeing Africa a 10th representative at this year’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
Burnley defender Axel Tuanzebe told the BBC that he’d consider it as the biggest game in his football career, while former captain Gabriel Zakuani called it “the biggest game in our history”.
Hoping to Right the Wrongs of 1974
Football fans in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been waiting a long time to right the wrongs of their solitary World Cup campaign in 1974.
That was the year US President Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal, the Rubik’s Cube was invented and Muhammad Ali beat George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle in the Congolese capital Kinshasa.
Should DR Congo win, over 110 million people back home, as well as a huge global diaspora, will pray things go better this time than they did in West Germany, when their country competed as Zaire.
That campaign kicked off poorly with a 2-0 defeat against Scotland, careened off the tracks in a 9-0 humiliation against Yugoslavia and descended into farce during a 3-0 loss to Brazil which produced one of the World Cup’s most memorable moments.
BBC commentator John Motson famously asked, “What on Earth did he do that for?” when right-back Mwepu Ilunga charged out of the defensive wall and booted the ball downfield as Brazil lined up a free-kick on the edge of the Zaire penalty area.
Ilunga received a yellow card, but the damage done to African football’s reputation was more severe, creating an impression that players from the continent did not even know the rules.
Mohamed Kalambay, one of the goalkeepers in the 1974 squad, said in 2022, “We were not a bad team. When you look at the teams in Africa, there are just a few that have been to the World Cup, but we were there and we deserved it.”
Darker reasons have been suggested for Ilunga’s moment of madness and the team’s underperformance, ranging from unpaid bonuses to threats of violence.
Aiming to Compete and Create History
Now a new generation hope to create their own iconic moments to banish those ghosts.
Victory against Jamaica will see them join a group containing Portugal, Uzbekistan and Colombia.
Zakuani, an assistant coach with DR Congo’s Under-20s, said that the aim is to also compete and put on a good show, not just be participants, not just be happy to be part of the party, but also to create history.
When they qualified in 1974, Zaire were only the third African side to reach the World Cup after Egypt (1934) and Morocco (1970).
- DR Congo competed as Zaire at the 1974 World Cup, losing all three matches including a 3-0 defeat to holders Brazil.
- Victory against Jamaica will see them join a group containing Portugal, Uzbekistan and Colombia.
- Over 110 million people back home will pray things go better this time.
Should DR Congo win, over 110 million people back home, as well as a huge global diaspora, will pray things go better this time.