Wednesday January 17, 2024
Laurent Pokou stadium, 11pm (EA)
Two giants of African football DR Congo and Zambia lock horns in their first game at the 2023 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations at Laurent Pokou stadium aiming to start decently.
A win will be vital for either if they are to progress to the last 16 and Avram Grant who won silver with Ghana in 2015 wants to take each game as it comes.
“I don’t like setting goals before a competition. The most important thing is how you approach your matches. We need to improve. I know it’s a difficult group with Morocco and DR Congo and there are teams better than us but football is not played on paper. When we go on the pitch, it will be to win,” Grant told CAFOnline.
“We want to do well in matches. We have to be realistic. With my players, we know what we have to do. Our goal is to do well during the group stage and then we will see,” he added.
“We will see during the first match if my players are ready. But I know they are motivated. We have a good team, great individuals. We will be ready for sure”, concluded the coach.
DR Congo coached by former Uganda Cranes coach Sebastien Desabre will hope his side emulates the form they showed during the qualifiers.
Star players Chancel Mbemba, Theo Bongonda, Fiston Mayele and Cedric Bakambu show class as per their club form.
Interesting facts and figures for the clash
- Sebastien Desabre will be managing at his second Afcon after handling Uganda in 2019 guiding the team to the round of 16 – ironically beating DR Congo in the group stages.
- Avram Grant previously handled Ghana and lost the finals to Ivory Coast in 2015.
- The two nations last met in the Afcon in 2015 with the game ending in a stalemate.
- DR Congo have won the Afcon title twice in 1968 and 1974 and haven’t reached the final since then.
- Zambia won the Afcon title with 2012 but had lost the finals in 1974 and 1994.
