It was an arrival worth more than half a century of waiting. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) players strolled into the arrivals hall of George Bush airport on Thursday kitted out in tuxedo suits and leopard-print sashes, channelling La Sape vogue for snappy dress that swept Kinshasa in the 1970s. A throng of local volunteers cheered them through and, in a climate where little can be taken for granted, their welcome to Houston was a genuinely wholesome moment.
The DRC’s squad looked appreciative although perhaps they were simply relieved to see new faces. The joy of a first World Cup since 1974, when they competed as Zaire, has been complicated by the Ebola outbreak in their homeland and a 21-day isolation period imposed by the US authorities. The players and staff formed a bubble in Belgium, playing one friendly against Denmark and being forced to cancel a scheduled meeting with Chile in Cádiz.
For all the precautions there were at least few of the difficulties apparently encountered by Senegal and Uzbekistan upon entering. The DRC are understood to have had temperatures screened before disembarking their flight, but made it in with no alarms and found a host venue keen to roll out the red carpet. They will be based in Houston for as long as their tournament continues, training at the compact SaberCats Stadium in the city’s south. Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo await on Wednesday; it is a brutally tough return to the top, but the stature of their opposition feels less important than the fact of being here at all.
“We always dreamed of this,” said Jonathan, sitting in the stadium’s main stand on Friday afternoon. “A lot of people have been waiting a long time, but we never gave up. I believe this is our time.”
He was among about 70 members of the local Congolese expat community invited to watch the team’s training session on Friday, along with a large group of local children who joined the players for photographs. Kapinga Yvette Ngandu, DRC’s ambassador to the United States, took part in a semi-formal welcome ceremony. Houston appears eager to pull out the stops and Sébastien Desabre’s side hope to ensure their hospitality extends into July.
“We need to adapt,” said Desabre when asked about any ill consequences of their disrupted preparation. “We’re focused on our work, we’re professionals and sometimes the way is not easy. It’s not a problem for us.”
The Real Betis forward Cédric Bakambu, a 35-year-old veteran of several qualifying near-misses, drew the most adulation from those looking on. The Congolese diaspora in Houston is thought to number about 10,000, if US-born children are counted; it remains to be seen how many have navigated the tournament’s prohibitive prices to watch the troubled country’s date with history.
Jonathan, who left the DRC 17 years ago at the age of 21 and lives five minutes’ drive from SaberCats Stadium, was not giving up on witnessing it at first-hand . “I’m trying to be there, I’ve got to be there,” he said. “The tickets are crazy expensive, but we’re going to have to try and do what we can for the team.”
Desabre, a Frenchman who did the rounds of 11 managerial roles in Africa before striking gold with the DRC, hopes they can do plenty for Jonathan and his local peers, as well as the millions watching back home who cannot spend the time or money on quarantining. “We are very affected [by the situation],” he said. “It’s an additional source of motivation for us to fight on the field.”
A win against Colombia or Uzbekistan would give the DRC a strong shout of progressing through Group K and potentially a last-32 meeting with England, even if Portugal prove too strong. Desabre said an African World Cup winner was “just a question of time”; it would probably be the biggest shock in football history if his players achieved it, but an experienced core, including Axel Tuanzebe, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Chancel Mbemba, will not be easily rolled over.
There will be no repeat of 1974, when Zaire tumbled out with a goal difference of -14 and were mocked when Mwepu Ilunga’s decision to burst from the defensive wall against Brazil, smashing the ball upfield before a free-kick could be taken, was widely misinterpreted. “We prepared well and now we want to be well represented in this group,” Desabre said. “After 52 years, it’s really a pride, a pleasure.”
Joining the chants of “Mbote”, which means “welcome” in Lingala, Jonathan was a picture of both. “We have resilience and we really have faith,” he said.
If their early moments in Houston are anything to go by, the DRC can also boast bucket-loads of style.
