By Mark Gleeson
ATLANTA, June 26 (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo will look to take a more attacking approach for their last World Cup group match, in which only a win over Uzbekistan will keep them in the tournament.
Coach Sebastien Desabre had played a defensive formation in the Group K matches against Portugal and Colombia but made it clear there would be a change in strategy for the clash under the roof at the Atlanta Stadium.
DR Congo go into the game with a solitary point, after holding
Portugal to a 1-1 draw, while Uzbekistan lost both their opening games, conceding seven goals, but still have a chance to advance with a win.
“Portugal were number five and Colombia number 13 in the FIFA rankings, so we made a deliberate choice to play a 5-3-2 formation,” Desabre said.
“I think we did well with that system in both games and it was only a little mistake on the left that saw us lose to Colombia.
“But for tomorrow we will have our team organised in such a way as to enable us to score, let’s be clear about that. We know what we have to do in order to advance.”
The Congolese have 35-year-old Cedric Bakambu and English-based Yoane Wissa as their main attackers, and although Wissa scored against Portugal, he went into the World Cup on the back of a poor season at Newcastle United, hampered by injury and failing to make an impact.
“Wissa was back to his old self when we started our pre-tournament preparations,” the coach said.
“Remember he was injured when he first moved to Newcastle and it proved difficult for him, but I’ve seen his motivation and the way he has trained to return to his old levels and I’m sure he is going to perform for us,” added the coach.
“We are playing at a much higher level than we are used to, and in these high-stakes games, victory is the only option, and, in the end, the goal is to score one goal more than our opponent,” Desabre said.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Atlanta; Editing by Ed Osmond)
