London – The Africa Cup of Nations is taking place in the Ivory Coast, where 24 teams have the dream of becoming the champions of Africa.
The most-awaited competition has been moved from the summer to January to avoid tropical rains that hit the Ivory Coast during June and July.
Senegal’s championship defence will include a challenging matchup with its neighbours and big names on the football field.
One team dreaming of being crowned the winner of AFCON is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is in Group F with Morocco, Tanzania, and Zambia.
The Bulrushes spoke to DRC professional player Fiston Mayele, who also plays as a centre forward for Pyramids FC in Egypt.
Mayele is the CAFCLCC Confederation Cup top scorer for 2022–23 and is ready to make his mark and take responsibility for his team.
Mayele shared what training and preparation for AFCON have been like for Team DRC.
“Training has been going very well,” he says.
“In order to acclimatise to the hot weather, we trained in Abu Dhabi for 10 days to replicate the conditions of the Ivory Coast.”
AFCON is followed by people everywhere and like all other teams DRC players are motivated to do well.
The competition attracts scouts from big clubs in Europe that are looking for the next big African star.
“We are prepared for this campaign and highly motivated,” says Mayele.
“For some of our players, this is their first time, and we all know we must be ready to tackle every game and please the Congolese people.”
The DRC was absent from the AFCON last year.
Mayele tells us what has changed.
“We were absent last year as we had experienced many problems,” he explains.
“But after we straightened everything out, we hired Sebastien Desarbre as our new coach and his disciplined approach transformed the team and paid off as we qualified this year.”
Mayele shares his hopes for the competition.
“Another objective for this road is to go as far as possible,” says Mayele.
“We must try to qualify against the groups, reach the quarterfinals, and keep going from there.
“We have good players, and we’re putting everything in place to get as far as we can in the competition.”
Mayele’s message to the DRC people is: “Pray for us because I know it will not be easy for us.
“There are good teams, and nations are all well prepared to get the job done.
“Be proud of us and support us until the end of the competition.”
The DRC’s first match is against Zambia on Wednesday, (17 January 2024).
