Democratic Republic of Congo head coach Sébastien Desabre concedes his side will approach Sunday’s showdown with Nigeria as underdogs, SportPremi reports.
The Leopards face the Super Eagles in the CAF playoffs final at the Moulay Hassan Stadium in Morocco on Sunday night, to determine who represents Africa at the intercontinental playoffs next year.
They defeated Cameroon 1-0 in their playoff semifinal round on Thursday, with Chancel Mbemba scoring the only goal of the encounter in stoppage time.
Nigeria, on the other hand, recorded a 4-1 win over Gabon to book their spot in the final round.
Akor Adams opened the scoring, before Mario Lemina’s deflected shot leveled matters to send the clash into extra-time.
Chidera Ejuke and Victor Osimhen, who scored twice, were on the scoresheet in extra-time to seal the convincing win in a dominant performance for the Super Eagles.
Desabre ready for tough Nigeria test
DR Congo’s last and only appearance at the FIFA World Cup was back in 1974 when the country was called Zaire.
They face a difficult challenge this time around to end their absence with Nigeria posing the first threat.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Desabre recognized Nigeria’s superior quality but believes his side can come out of the encounter with a favorable result.
“We beat a good Cameroon team who took a lot of risks at the end of the match to score. And then there is Nigeria, which remains one of the best in Africa.
“These are teams that are ahead of us in the Fifa ranking and we know we have room for improvement as we showed tonight”, Desabre admitted.
“We must move forward, we’re making progress. We took a good step today and we will have another opportunity against Nigeria to show what we are capable of.
“That will be another match and whatever happens we will throw ourselves into the game”, he continued.
Nigeria and DR Congo clash in CAF playoffs
It is now down to the final two nations to determine Africa’s sole representative at next year’s intercontinental playoffs ahead of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Gabon and Cameroon have both been eliminated, with Nigeria and the DR Congo fighting for the one available spot.
It promises to be an exciting encounter at the Moulay Hassan Stadium, with the Super Eagles returning to the venue of their semifinal triumph over Gabon last Thursday.
The Leopards, meanwhile, will hope to produce another giant-killing performance and head to next year’s playoffs.
