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Former DR Congo captain Youssef Mulumbu backed his compatriots to "cause problems to the Three Lions" ahead of their FIFA World Cup round of 32 clash against England on Wednesday (July 1).
England, led by Harry Kane, will face DR Congo in Atlanta in a knockout contest. The fixture comes amid a tournament that has already witnessed major upsets, with Paraguay eliminating four-time champions Germany and Morocco knocking out the Netherlands in the Round of 32, underlining the unpredictability of the competition. DR Congo began their campaign with a spirited 1-1 draw against Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal, before narrowly losing 1-0 to Colombia. However, they bounced back strongly with a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan to secure a historic first-ever knockout-stage qualification. Speaking on Sky Sports, Mulumbu said that while England has more experience, DR Congo is more confident, saying that he had spoken to defender Arthur Masuaku, who had expressed to him the team's desire to make it to the finals, unlike a lot of other African teams, who are just looking to represent the nation at the grandest stage and go past the group stage at least. "Of course, with this experience, I think the Three Lions have more, but the thing is that this group is very confident. You know, I spoke with Masuaku, and he said they want to go to the final. I was quite impressed because, obviously, when you see African nations coming to the World Cup, most of them want to go through the group stage and represent, but they want to go to the final. So I am very pleased with them, and I really think that they're going to cause problems for the Three Lions," he said. Mulumbu added that he is rooting for DR Congo in what he expects to be a closely contested encounter, noting that recent shocks in the tournament show that underdogs can compete against top teams. "But we saw as well this England team doubting a bit against Ghana and, you know, we have a fifty-fifty chance. We saw Morocco yesterday, we saw Paraguay yesterday, there are some surprises in this World Cup, so let us just fight and see what is going to happen," he signed off. (ANI)
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