"We are building a project"

Democratic Republic of Congo's head coach looks ahead to the AFCON finals

-  Mark Gleeson

"Can you tell us about the potential of your DR Congo side?

The potential for Congo is very good. We have quite a lot of players who are competing with clubs in the major leagues in Europe. This is as a result of a project we started more than a year ago now, to strengthen the side with players from tougher and more competitive leagues and, on the back of that, we were able to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals. It’s a first step and now we wait to see what the future holds.

As I had been saying for quite some time, we are building a project. We know that in any case, in today’s football, positive results can allow us to go faster in what we want to do. Good results lead to a lot of positive things. It’s work, football changes everywhere from one day to the next. But I must say I’ve been very satisfied with the state of mind displayed by the players.

What are your chances at the tournament in the Ivory Coast?

Our objective is to get to the quarter-finals. That is where we want to finish. But you must not forget that at the last Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon, Congo did not even qualify so we have to be realistic about our chances and look at this as a mission that we have to take step by step. It’s a tough group we have.

What did you think of Morocco’s performance in Qatar, and do you think they are favourites to win the African title?