Democratic Republic of Congo can’t be underestimated after stirring Afcon comeback

In almost every scenario, losing your first two group matches in a tournament spells an early exit, but the Democratic Republic of Congo have been the great beneficiaries of the Africa Cup of Nations expansion.

The 24-team format means—somewhat redundantly—that only eight teams are eliminated after the group stage, with all but two of the third-placed teams advancing to the Round of 16.

That appears to be a meagre consequence for the first 36 matches of the tournament, but there was still much to be decided heading into the final round of group games, with only Cameroon, Mali, Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt assured of their spots in the next round.

By contrast, the DRC were staring elimination in the face, having lost their opening two matches, conceding four goals in the process and having failed to find the net themselves.

Yannick Bolasie has acknowledged concerns that the timing of the #TotalAFCON2019 may have a negative impact on his club career at @Everton…https://t.co/dCpFmGbVMo pic.twitter.com/R25AUHZiCy

— Ed Dove (@EddyDove) June 30, 2019

Not only had they lost, but they’d been the biggest under-performers in the tournament so far, particularly in their opener against Uganda, when they were outplayed, outclassed and never looked like coming back into it after falling behind after 14 minutes.

There was a caveat of course, the Leopards had been denied their final day of preparation—the day before the match—after they had to spend over 12 hours in an Egyptian hospital to get medical checks for the entire squad after a team doctor left the original reports behind.

It was calamitously haphazard, with coach Florent Ibenge complaining that he left his hotel at 10 in the morning and only returned at half past 11 in the evening, having missed out on a final training session before their opener.

Less than ideal, certainly, while some have also questioned whether the decision to undertake preseason training in Marbella, Spain, rather than hotter climes, explained the Leopards’ lacklustre showing in their opener in the searing heat of Cairo.

The DR Congo football team have released a video apologising for their loss against Uganda in yesterday’s #afcon2019 game pic.twitter.com/PnZeiu2w0x

— Samira Sawlani (@samirasawlani) June 23, 2019

The defeat left the Leopards with much to do, particularly as they were up against hosts Egypt—in the capital—in their second match.

Played in the late evening, this was a much improved performance, and the Central Africans even hit the woodwork twice in the first half.

However, goals from Ahmed Elmohamady and Mohamed Salah took the contest beyond them, and as they had done in their opener against Zimbabwe, Egypt took their foot off the gas in the second half, confident that they weren’t risking their three points.

This left the Congolese bottom of their pool after two games, pointless—in an unhappy club along with Namibia, Burundi and Tanzania—and in need of something approaching a miracle to progress.

There was a sense, though, that the stars were aligning during a muggy afternoon at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo on Sunday.

It was lost on few that the fixture was being played at the 30 June Stadium—named as a tribute to the Egyptian Air Force—on June 30, the date which also happened to be Congolese Independence day, marking 59 years since the former Zaire—then known as the Republic of Congo/Congo-Leopoldville—separated from Belgium.

There aren’t too many countries as special as the DRC, and Cairo was witness to some of its finest beauty, melodies and pageantry this weekend.

The chiffon scarves on the beautiful journalists, their flawless skin and long-limbed Kinois elegance, the charming, uplifting anthem—Arise, Congolese—which involves a two-part harmony, like a melancholic aria of hope arising quietly, cautiously, then proudly, from the misery, agony and torment of generations past

The anthem, penned by Joseph Lutumba, even references the “Gentle sun of 30 June” — although he clearly wasn’t familiar with mid-summer temperatures in Cairo…

As the goals flew in, the aching restraint of the anthem was replaced by muziki na biso, the mesmeric drumming rhythms of the supporters, the shuffling feet of journalists in sparkling silver sneakers who simply couldn’t restrain themselves at the change in the weather and the change in the tide.

There was a hint of Cuba, a sprinkling of rumba, a toot and a snore of Le Grande Kalle, of Manu Dibango, of the Independence Cha Cha; a nation presented itself on the continental stage.

You can take the girl out of Kinshasa, but you cannot take Kinshasa out of the girl.

…or so I’m told.

There was a carnival in the air, rhythms and melodies that had played on those streets in 1960, Cedric Bakambu—leopard-spotted lid—striding forth with the authority, composure and style of a modern day Patrice Lumumba.

One of Lumumba’s—the founding father of the DRC—key themes was dignity; the dignity to be a people alone, standing strong and unity, freed from the shackles and ravages of Belgian colonisation, to emerge into the freedom and liberty of a modern Congolese people.

Certainly, the Leopards were bold and unabashed as they capitalised on Zimbabwe’s errors one by one and made a mockery of the pre-match doom and gloom.

Journalist Usher Komugisha had asked Yannick Bolasie, earlier in the week, why the team weren’t showing the expected “flamboyance, colours and hairstyles” of the Congolese, but as the goals flew in, here they were—in vivid technicolour.

This is what it means to ex-DRC international Fedor Assombalonga when his son @BrittOfficials scores his first international goal – and the Leopards’ fourth – in their Nations Cup clash against Zimbabwe.#TOTALCAN2019 #TotalAFCON2019 #ZIMRDC #Fimbu @leopardsfoot pic.twitter.com/IBtIlUzDgZ

— Ed Dove (@EddyDove) June 30, 2019

The Leopards—third-placed qualifiers for the Round of 16—will take their place in the knockouts as genuine contenders for the African crown.

They may have started the campaign miserably, but it’s in games like this, in exhilarating, intoxicating events like these, when hope becomes belief before your very eyes.

“The day will come when history will speak,” wrote Lumumba, ”but it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations.

“Africa will write its own history, and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity.”

Glory and dignity both belonged to the DRC as they thumped Zimbabwe to progress, breathing life into their Nations Cup campaign, and playing with the quality to suggest that they may yet be genuine contenders in this tournament.