The Democratic Republic of Congo’s medical officer shared sad news about coach Sébastien Desabre’s family at the end of a press conference at the World Cup in Atlanta.
DR Congo manager Sebastien Desabre watched as the news of his father’s death was announced to the world at the end of the post-match press conference following their side’s 2-1 loss to England in the Round of 32 in Atlanta.
Desabre was taking questions from World Cup reporters when the Democratic Republic of Congo’s communications director announced the shocking news and expressed his condolences.
Video footage of the press conference went viral online, and it was not immediately clear whether Desabres already knew of his father’s death, but he appeared to be in shock.
A media representative said, “Thank you. However, we would like to inform you that Coach has lost his father. We offer our deepest condolences.”
Desabre then stopped and responded, “Merci,” before leaving the press conference room at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
The 49-year-old led the African country to its first World Cup since 1974, formerly known as Zaire.
Also, in the match against Uzbekistan, which was also held in Atlanta, they won 3-1, leading the team to advance to the group in 3rd place.
DR Congo defeated Jamaica in an intercontinental playoff to secure their place in North America.
Democratic Republic of Congo coach Sebastian Desabres received news of his team’s death after losing 2-1 to England at the World Cup.
The team held the lead in the first half with a goal from Brian Shipenga, but despite the hard work of impressive goalkeeper Lionel Mpathi, Harry Kane scored two goals to defeat them.
Still, Desabres was proud of his team, saying, “It’s disappointing because we believed we could do it. We may have lacked a little bit of experience at the end, but that’s football. We’ll continue to learn and improve and move forward calmly.”
“We played like Congolese. Today we played good football against one of the best teams in the world. That will remain in our memory.”
Democratic Republic of Congo corner England in Atlanta in first World Cup since 1974
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Newcastle striker Yohan Ouissa also hit the post, denying the Democratic Republic of Congo a chance to take the lead.
Burnley defender Axel Tuanzebe said the loss had the tinge of defeat as he felt they could have finished off England.
He added: “I feel even more remorseful because at the end of the day I felt we absolutely should have held on for the game.”
“We probably should have finished it in the first half as well, but it’s a shame that today wasn’t meant to be for us, but we’ll look at this and think about how we can build for the upcoming tournament.”
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