The Leopards of the DRC suffered their first defeat in the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) Morocco 2025 on Saturday, November 16 in the evening. Traveling to Abidjan, at the Alassane Ouattara stadium in Ebimpé, the Congolese beasts suffered lost (0-1) against Syli National of Guinea in a match counting for the fifth day of this African campaign.
Facing journalists after the match, Sébastien Desabre, manager and selector of the DRC, commented on this surprise defeat for his team, who posted a first poor performance in this campaign after winning four matches in a row and obtaining their qualification. He admits that his team lost a high-level match in Africa and that it is necessary to redouble their efforts for the next meetings. Although they showed qualities despite the defeat, the French technician notes that the offensive performance was below expectations. And underlines the importance of learning from their mistakes, particularly in managing stoppages in play.
“It was a match of a good African level, we must accept the sentence and work harder to win the next match. We are at this stage now in our work, we do not underestimate anyone, we know that we have qualities, we showed it despite the defeat today. We had a less good match offensively than the other matches, we are working calmly to progress from match to match because we have high medium-term objectives,” explained Sébastien Desabre at a press conference. after match.
Before adding:
“We don’t show any lack of humility especially because we still have a lot of points to improve, we work hard, the players have a very good state of mind now. We mismanaged the stoppages in play in a match, that should serve as a lesson for us in future matches. As I announced, we have 7 boys who are on the receiving end of a yellow card, we had the obligation to make them play in this match so that they could not play the second match because he risks a suspension for the first CAN match in December in 2025,” he added.
This defeat ends the unbeaten streak of four games without defeat, with 12 points for the Leopards in this qualifying campaign. The DRC, already qualified, retains its position as leader of group H (12 points). She will face the Walya of Ethiopia on Tuesday, November 19 to end their adventure in style.
Fiston MOKILI
