England national team, take note: the DR Congo coach speaks frankly after being eliminated from the 2026 World Cup.
Sebastian Desabre, coach of the DR Congo national team, said his team has presented a good image of football to the world after nearly beating England in the 2026 World Cup round of 32 last night.
In the match, DR Congo took a 1-0 lead within the first 7 minutes, but Harry Kane scored twice to lead England to a 2-1 comeback victory, resulting in Desabre’s team being eliminated, much to their regret.
Desabre said, “When you represent your national team, you have to create a good image, and I believe we have achieved that.”
“We feel more proud than disappointed. Of course, we are disappointed to be knocked out of the World Cup, but we scored five goals in this tournament and played well against teams ranked much higher.”
“We wanted to use the width of the field and create space. We also needed to better close down the middle to cut off the supply to Elliott Anderson, who is key to England’s attacking play.”
“We tried to press England, but they responded with counterattacks, which is the strength of these top teams. They have one of the world’s best forwards helping them, and that’s what happens against big nations. We did what we could, we almost won, but you could also see it as a sort of victory for us.”