The Democratic Republic of Congo have touched down in Cairo, ready for the kick off of the Total African Cup of Nations 2019.
The Florent Ibenge coached outfit touched down in the Egyptian capital on Monday night and will hope to translate their flamboyant style of play into trophies this time round.
DR Congo are drawn in Pool A and will contests with hosts Egypt, Uganda and Zimbabwe and will kick off their campaign against the Ugandans on the second day of the competition on Saturday at the Cairo International Stadium.
The side arrive from Spain where they had put up their pre-tournament training camp and concluded their preparation phase with a 1-1 draw against Kenya, who will be making their first appearance at the Cup of Nations in 15 years.
West Ham left-back Arthur Masuaku scored late on in that match at the Estadio de Santa Ana to hand them a draw against Kenya after Michael Olunga had given the East Africans an early lead.
The Red Devils as they are famously known as have won the tournament only twice, the last time being in 1974 when it was hosted in Egypt. They will hope that lighting strikes twice for them with the tournament also hosted in Egypt this year.
They were eliminated from the quarterfinals in 2017 and reached the semis in 2015, going on to finish third. Coach Ibenge is confident that they are ready to challenge for the title.
“I think we have trained well and gauged ourselves very well in the friendly games. We will come to compete,” the coach stated after his side's friendly with Kenya in Madrid last Saturday.
Their fun-loving, lingala-dancing fans are expected to throng Cairo to belt out their ‘fimbu na fimbu’ tunes and support the Leopards all the way to the title.
Source: cafonline.com
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