World Cup ends for hero coach Sebastien Desabre with tragic death of father
The manager was in clear shock when the death was made public during his post-match press conference.
Democratic Republic of Congo coach Sebastien Desabre was full of pride after his side pushed England all the way in their World Cup clash, but his post-match press conference finished on a tragic note.
Desabre answered questions for seven minutes before a media manager announced that the coach’s father had died.
“We announce that the coach has lost his father. Our sincere condolences,” they said in French.
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It’s not immediately clear if he already knew of his father’s death, but it has since been reported that he was told pre-match.
The news marked a tragic end to a history-making tournament for Congo that almost extended into the next round.
The Congolese led for more than an hour in their last-32 clash before Harry Kane’s double turned the result around in the last 15 minutes to send DR Congo home and England through to a meeting with Mexico.
Brian Cipenga had put Congo in the lead in the seventh minute after collecting a cross on the left of the box and shooting low past England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford at the near post.
“We’re disappointed because we really believed we could do it,” Desabre said.
“We played well. Towards the end of the match, we conceded two chances and one of the world’s best players scored two goals against us. It’s a shame.”
Despite the defeat, Desabre was still proud of his team after they scored their first goals at a World Cup, achieved their first win and got out of the group stage.
“When you represent the national team you have to leave a good image behind and this I believe we did,” said Desabre.
“We are more proud than disappointed. We are disappointed to be leaving the World Cup of course but we scored five goals in the tournament and played much higher-ranked teams and managed good results.”
The Frenchman has been in charge of Congo since 2022, taking over after they failed to qualify for the tournament in Qatar.
He led them to the 2026 World Cup with wins over Cameroon and Nigeria in the second round of CAF qualifying before defeating Jamaica in the inter-confederation play-offs to secure just their second World Cup appearance after 1974.
Originally published on 7NEWS Sport
