By Mark Gleeson
ATLANTA, June 25 (Reuters) - Victory for the Democratic Republic of Congo in their last group game against Uzbekistan on Saturday will not only offer them the opportunity to advance at the World Cup but help continue expunging a half-century of ignominy.
Although mathematically both teams are still in the race for a berth in the last 32, Uzbekistan would need a convincing win to stand any chance of taking one of the places reserved for the eight best third-placed finishers across the 12
groups.
The Asian debutants lost to Colombia and Portugal, conceding eight goals in the process, and have yet to collect any points while the Congolese have one point after holding Portugal to a 1-1 draw in their Group K opener before losing on Tuesday to Colombia in Guadalajara, where they gave up a late goal.
Victory for DR Congo in Atlanta would take them to four points, which would be enough to progress into the knockout rounds and would have been scarcely believable some seven months ago when they entered the playoffs for the best four runners-up in the African preliminaries after failing to qualify directly.
There, they saw off Cameroon and Nigeria, before in March beating Jamaica in their inter-confederation playoff, taking 13 matches before securing their qualification.
It is DR Congo's second World Cup, 52 years after they played in the 1974 finals, when the country was known as Zaire, and were subject to ridicule for a performance where they conceded 14 goals in three games without scoring themselves.
They were seen as naive and way behind the modern trends of the game, and so qualifying again has been a chance for redemption.
"After 52 years to have an opportunity to wipe out the bad image of 1974 must be seen as a massive success," Kabulo Mwana Kabulo, longtime chronicler of Congolese football and a former minister of sport, told Reuters.
"What happens at the World Cup is a bonus and to get through to the next round would be wonderful."
Uzbekistan will be looking to continue what coach Fabio Cannavaro feels is valuable experience on the international stage and possibly pick up their first World Cup points.
"I asked the players to be more courageous, to play football and not to be afraid. If you have that mindset, you can grow as a team and grow individually," said Cannavaro, who lifted the World Cup with Italy in 2006.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Atlanta; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
