AFCON 2023: It's Leopards of DR Congo vs Chipolopolo of Zambia in the last Group Match

Posted : 17 January 2024

In a relatively weak group, the Leopards of DR Congo, twice champions of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), will do battle against the Chipolopolo of Zambia, one-time winners of the championship, in the last game of Group A to F of the ongoing AFCON in Cote D'Ivoire.

Although both teams have won the tournament in the past, they cannot be considered as high risks to the lined-up favorites.

So, as the first round of matches in the AFCON comes to a close, it will be a tight contest between the Leopards of DR Congo and Zambia at Stade de San Pedro on Wednesday evening.

Because of the nature of Group F, it looks like it could be a difficult one to navigate for these two and features African powerhouse Morocco and the plucky Tanzania, who will contest the other match in this group at this venue earlier in the day.

However, heavy favorites Morocco are expected to secure one of the available slots for the knockout stages, while Tanzania, DR Congo, and Zambia fight for the last slot or better yet, claim the position of the third-best team.

DR Congo has not been in the spotlight in recent years and will come into this year's tournament hopeful of lifting the AFCON title for the first time in five decades.

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The Leopards have earned two continental titles in their storied history, with the last triumph coming back in 1974 when they were still known as Zaire, while their previous victory was earned in 1968.

Congo stamped their authority on African football, still regarded as an average team struggling to make an impact on the continental stage.

They have suffered elimination in three group stages since 2000 and failed to qualify for three consecutive Africa Cup of Nations tournaments between 2008 and 2012.

The team almost failed to make it to the AFCON after missing out and losing their first two qualifying matches, which led to the sacking of Hector Cuper, but that seemed to have marked something of a turning point for the side.

French Coach Sebastien Desabre was appointed to lead the team through the remaining qualification matches and was able to turn around the fortunes of the team with consecutive victories to top their group, which included Gabon, Sudan, and Mauritania.

The Leopards have been less impressive, winning just one of their next seven matches, while they enter this one winless in their last three, which included losses to Sudan (1-0) and Burkina Faso (2-1), while they were held to a stalemate by Angola in their first warm-up match on January 6.

The last time these sides met, the match ended in a 1-1 draw, marking the fourth drawn result between these teams in five matches, while the one win in that time went to Zambia 4-1 back in 2005.

Zambia's Africa Cup of Nations history is a strange one since the last time that they won a match in the continental tournament was when they lifted the trophy back in February 2012.

Chipolopolo failed to muster much of a title defense, exiting in the group stages of each of the next two competitions while failing to even qualify for the following three editions leading up to this one.

Nevertheless, now under the guidance of former Chelsea manager Avram Grant, Zambia could be one of the dark horses in this competition and have improved notably over the last year.

Grant's side was very impressive during the 2023 COSAFA Cup, where they finished second in their group but rose to win the competition, beating Lesotho 1-0 in the final thanks to a decisive goal by Moyela Libamba.

Since that result, Chipolopolo have played six matches, splitting them with two wins, two losses, and two draws, with their most recent match ending in a 1-1 draw against Cameroon in their sole warm-up match last week.

This should be a tight contest that might even end in a draw.

AFCON 2023: It's Leopards of DR Congo vs Chipolopolo of Zambia in the last Group Match

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