{"id":4506,"date":"2026-06-30T13:20:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T13:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=4506"},"modified":"2026-06-30T13:20:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T13:20:30","slug":"dr-congo-dreams-of-england-world-cup-upset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=4506","title":{"rendered":"DR Congo dreams of England World Cup upset"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DR Congo\u2019s long road to a first World Cup in 52 years has been beset by challenges that their English opponents in the last 32 on Wednesday could scarcely imagine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite having to navigate 13 qualifiers, a pre-tournament quarantine due to an Ebola outbreak and the instability caused by decades of conflict, the war-torn nation is making its mark on the global stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy in our country,\u201d said Yoane Wissa after his two goals secured his nation\u2019s first World Cup win against Uzbekistan and a meeting against England, where the Newcastle striker has played his club football for the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is by no means the only English connection in the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Wan-Bissaka was born in London and played for England to under-21 level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Axel Tuanzebe also represented the Three Lions at youth level and could come up against his former schoolmate and teammate Marcus Rashford in Atlanta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 26-man squad, 20 were born outside of Congo \u2014 the majority, like Wissa, in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battle for the mineral-rich East Congo has sparked a decades-long conflict between a litany of armed groups and forced families to flee, seeking security in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a war in East Congo. Every day, every time we wear this shirt, we think about them,\u201d added Wissa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause we want peace and for them, I just say \u2018thank you\u2019. Thank you because we came from far. We came from nothing to be here. Now we write our story with a black pen and we need to be proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roots of an inspiring story on the field come from that tragic backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sourcing and recruiting dual-national players has become crucial for smaller nations to punch above their weight in international football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018New generation wants to help\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wan-Bissaka was one of those who initially needed some convincing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signed by Manchester United for \u00a350 million ($66 million) when just 21, DR Congo swooped when the England career he imagined he would have failed to materialise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the Leopards\u2019 star has risen, players are becoming increasingly keen to join the Congolese cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noah Sadiki represented Belgium at youth level and would almost certainly now be a mainstay for the Red Devils had the Sunderland midfielder not switched allegiance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a new generation that wants to help the people of the country,\u201d Sadiki told French sports paper L\u2019Equipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competing as Zaire in 1974, the country\u2019s only previous World Cup ended in embarrassment with 14 goals conceded in three defeats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over half a century on, Congo\u2019s new generation have given a nation reason to dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outbreak of Ebola that has claimed more than 300 lives had had an impact on the team\u2019s World Cup preparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States imposed a 21-day isolation period on players in Belgium before they were allowed to enter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their most famous fan Michel Nkuka Mboladinga \u2014 known for his statue-like pose honouring the country\u2019s first prime minister Patrice Lumumba \u2014 was denied entry to the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the team led by Sebastien Desabre, a Frenchman, has defied the odds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congo eliminated African powerhouses Cameroon and Nigeria in qualifying before sealing their place with victory over Jamaica in an inter-continental play-off in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desabre\u2019s men then thwarted Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Portugal as Wissa\u2019s header secured a 1-1 draw in their opening World Cup game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A narrow 1-0 defeat to Colombia meant they had to beat Uzbekistan to reach the knockout stages for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roared on by thousands from the Congolese diaspora in the stands, Wissa was the hero once more in a 3-1 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge of England, one of the favourites for the competition, awaits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Congo are unlikely to be overawed given the hurdles they have scaled to get to this stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DR Congo\u2019s long road to a first World Cup in 52 years has been beset by challenges that their English opponents in the last 32..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-30-181857-1.png",953,469,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-30-181857-1-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-30-181857-1-300x148.png",300,148,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-30-181857-1-768x378.png",768,378,true],"large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-30-181857-1.png",953,469,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-30-181857-1.png",953,469,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-30-181857-1.png",953,469,false]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4508,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions\/4508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}