After bagging only two points
from two matches, the
Democratic Republic of Congo's
chances to reach the quarter-
finals hang by a thread. They
need to beat Mali and hope Ghana overwhelm Niger during Group
B's last match day on Monday. The Leopards are returning to
the continental scene after six
years of absence and have
pegged their worst setback to
happen in the quarter-finals,
which they have played five times after their 1968 and 1974
victories in the finals. However,
their path will cross with another
ambitious team, Mali, whose
objective for the tournament is
finishing third, at least, as they did in the 2012 Afcon. DR Congo fuelled hopes after
their bold 2-2 draw against Ghana
in their opener but were stunned
by low-rated Niger, who held
them to a glaring goalless draw
on Thursday, and thus adding woe to their situation for the
rest of the competition. Coach Claude Le Roy's blueprint
will contain full attacking and
defending tactics, needed to out-
gun the Eagles while avoiding
frustration in the process,
against a talented and experienced Malian outfit. Mali's lone-goal loss to Ghana
brought a chilly shock to the
Eagles' camp. Coach Patrice
Carteron was expecting a repeat
of his side's triumph over the
Black Stars in the last edition's third place match. He told his
players they could do it again and
hoped his men would maintain the
momentum from their 1-0 win
over Niger earlier on, however,
they were outplayed, which the Frenchman said was due to
fatigue and hard luck. Now he needs to amend all that
against the Leopards in a clash to
determine who qualifies to the
knockout stage and who bids
farewell to the competition. The Malians have their backs to
the wall and will push with all
their might to scramble a ticket
to the next round at a time when
the west African nation stands at
a crossroads in its history, with the war to dislodge Islamic forces
from the north still raging and
the population hanging their
hopes on their team for the
much-needed joy and happiness in
times of difficulty.