Sébastien Desabre suffered his first defeat in an official match with the DRC Leopards. The Congolese were beaten 1-0 by Sudan on the second day of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Fans blame the defeat on the French coach's choices.
Sébastien Desabre's run of victories in official matches as coach of the DRC Leopards has come to an end.After five consecutive wins, the Leopards suffered their first defeat, losing 1-0 to Sudan on Sunday November 19 in Benghazi on the second day of Group B of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Four changes
For the Congolese public, the DRC's first defeat in Group B was the fault of the French coach, who made his task more difficult with four changes to the starting eleven compared to the first match against Mauritania, won in Kinshasa (2-0). Among the 4 changes made were two players who were starting for the first time in an official match, namely Simon Banza in attack in place of Cédric Bakambu or Fiston Mayele Kalala and Grady Diangana in midfield, while Samuel Moutoussamy, who had played in all the Leopards' matches since Desabre's arrival, remained on the bench.
"We lost because of the coach".
The two new players called up to the squad for the first time last October failed to live up to the coach's expectations.While Banza made his mark with a shot that the Sudanese goalkeeper pushed against the upright, Diangana didn't make too much of an impact. For Richard, a Leopards fan he met on the streets of Kinshasa, the coach should have fielded the same XI as in the match against Mauritania. "We lost because of the coach.He should have fielded the same eleven as against Mauritania.Sébastien Desabre practically put a B team on the pitch against Sudan and that was the result. A match we could have won, we lost because of the coach. We lost three precious points".
According to sports analyst Mons Monshenju, Sebastien Desabre misread the match: "Sebastien Desabre had just beaten Sudan in the AFCON 2023 qualifiers, and we saw that Sudan had really embarrassed us, even though they had lost the match. So he had to be careful with the Sudanese game, which had a very low block. And the reshuffle of the starting eleven had consequences with a team that was not at all coherent with the newcomers. There are regrets, and we'll be left with questions until the next two matches", he declared.
Don't get fixated on Senegal
In Group B, everything remains open after two days, with Senegal and Sudan leading the way (4 points), followed by the DRC in third place (3 points). Being in the same group as reigning African champions Senegal, the Congolese tend to focus solely on their double confrontation with the Lions of Teranga. According to sports journalist Gédé Luiz, this is a mistake they should not make. The DRC's mistake is to think only of Senegal as an opponent. The danger is in beating Senegal and losing to teams described as "small", and complicating things. Sudan has already taught us a valuable lesson.Now we have to open our eyes and stop obsessing about Senegal," he insisted.
In a ten-day qualifying campaign, every point counts if they are to qualify for the next World Cup. The Leopards will rest up and then think about the AFCON, to be held in Côte d'Ivoire in January and February 2024, before returning to the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, with the next two rounds taking place in June 2024. The Congolese face a tough trip to Dakar to take on Senegal on Matchday 3, before hosting Togo in Kinshasa on Matchday 4.
