The DRC is eliminated in round one of the African Nations Championship for the first time in its history. The Leopards finished last at Group B in the 7th edition that took place in Algeria. Otis Ngoma is the coach of the team. This debacle can be attributed to many factors.
The DRC’s journey at the Algeria 2022 African Nation Championship is over. The Leopards will return at the end the first round. They finished last in Group A with 2 points and no goals. It was a historic elimination. This is the first time the DRC has reached this stage of competition in six participations. They have won the trophy twice before. Otis Ngoma (Leopards coach) says it was a huge failure due to many factors.
Poor preparation
Poor preparation is the first reason for coach’s elimination.In September, we had the same team that scored five goals in Chad. However, there were certain parameters that we didn’t master between September and Jan. They were the same ones that qualified the team, but due to the time we had for preparation, we didn’t have any friendly matches. It’s almost as if the whole team was in full competition. The Istanbul camp, which was cancelled, would have allowed us the opportunity to evaluate the level of the young players who joined the team following the departure of certain international players. All these young people found the high-level here. I spoke to the Senegal coach regarding their work style. He said that they had seven friends, while we had very few.“, he advanced.
The irregularity of this championship
Otis Ngoma said that the championship was irregular and did not allow the players to arrive in Algeria with a better physique.We did a great job when I took over the team in September. In November, the championship was not played as often. We arrived in Algeria as boys in poor physical condition, despite the championship being played. We are now back at the Congolese football organization to learn how to improve things in the future.“, he said.
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🇨🇩Here’s how group 🅱️ stand after matchday 3️⃣#TotalEnergiesCHAN2022 pic.twitter.com/j0VLFQguA6
— MARHABA (@CAF_Online) January 23, 2023
Injuries and illnesses
Otis Ngoma, the coach, has always used a different starting eleven for each match of the DRC’s group stage. Each match had at least six changes to the one before. According to many Congolese, this situation has destabilized the team. The 61-year old technician justifies the situation by citing injuries and illnesses.I am sorry about this match and the entire course. I accept full responsibility for this elimination, as they are players I chose. I only brought back the best players. With regard to the championship, any coach would have the same team. However, we were plagued by illness and injury, and I couldn’t help but feel guilty. Jonathan Ikangalombo, our best player, suffered an ankle injury in the match against Senegal.“Informs the coach.
Otis Ngoma points fingers at the national technical direction
Otis Ngoma believes that the problem with Congolese football is at the grassroots level, with the training of young people. This job should have been done by technical management in the DRC.I believe we lack a national technical policy. While we have a national director of technical, there isn’t a national director of technical. A national technical division is made up of many national coaches who have been trained to give training to young adults. And these young people have to work with certain criteria of requirement where each category has a plan”, He hammers.
The Congolese technician invites leaders for a lesson in leadership Senegal. “We must start at the foundation if we want to improve football today. Fundamentals are lacking in football. We can raise the level of football by training young people. Senegal’s team is an example of a young, beautiful team that includes boys who have come from several training centers and work almost every day. They work even during the championship. It’s substantive, it’s a game project that projects itself into modern soccer. This is something we don’t have here at home. It is a great job by the national technical managers and the clubs“. An evaluation will be done after the elimination to determine if there are any future problems.
📹 HIGHLIGHTS: 🇸🇳 3-0 🇨🇩
Watch the key moments as Senegal net 3️⃣ times to beat the two-time champions 📺 #TotalEnergiesCHAN2022 | @Fsfofficial | @Football2Gether pic.twitter.com/T3bN5hGALe
— MARHABA (@CAF_Online) January 23, 2023
Jonathan MASIALA
Source: sportnewsafrica
