Democratic Republic of Congo head coach, Sébastien Desabre, has declared that jis team has the quality and belief to overcome the Super Eagles of Nigeria in their decisive clash.
The Leopards will battle Nigeria on Sunday at the Prince Héritier Moulay El Hassan Sports Complex in Rabat, where the winner will secure a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup playoffs final.
DR Congo booked their spot after a hard-fought 1–0 victory over the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Thursday’s semi-final.
Desabre, 49, maintained that his side can reproduce the same level of performance against a Nigerian team he openly described as the continent’s strongest.
He told actualite.cd, “Nigeria remains the best in Africa. We know we still have room for improvement against teams ranked ahead of us in the FIFA rankings.
“We have experienced players. What we’re putting in place hasn’t happened overnight. We’ve been working for three years to be capable and strong against teams like Cameroon and to beat teams like that. We know we’re progressing to qualify for a World Cup.
“The ultimate goal within six years is to finish in the top nine at least. We’re making progress, we’ve taken a good step today, and we’ll have a team against Nigeria to show what we’re capable of.
“It will be a different kind of match. Whatever happens, we’re going to give it our all. Against Senegal, we were five minutes away from the World Cup. We took a few steps back.”
