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It took Gabriel Zakuani less than five seconds to turn down an offer to co-commentate on the showdown between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and England in the last 32 of the World Cup. The former Peterborough and Leyton Orient defender and Leopards’ captain has been a regular on BBC Radio 5 Live during the tournament but simply could not face the prospect of having to work during the biggest match in their history.

“I was down to do the England game, but I just said: ‘There’s too much emotion in it. I won’t be able to do it,’” he says.

“I did the Colombia v DR Congo and I could just feel myself getting too attached. So I had to say that I don’t want to do any more Congolese games.”

Instead Zakuani, who, as a consultant for the country’s federation has played a huge part in assembling Sébastien Desabre’s squad from the Congolese diaspora around Europe, will be watching the game with the sizeable local community in West Green Road in Tottenham, filled with immense pride. The 40-year-old was with the squad for their pre-tournament training camps in Belgium and Spain, before attending their opening game against Portugal in Houston. A 1-1 draw in the DRC’s first World Cup match since they competed as Zaire in 1974 – when they were the first sub-Saharan African nation to qualify for the finals – showed they belonged at the level.

Belief has only grown since then after coming back from a goal down against Uzbekistan to set up a meeting with Thomas Tuchel’s side. Zakuani thinks they can take inspiration from Ghana’s performance against England in the group stages.

“There are holes in England. I think it’s been glaring,” he says. “When you sit back against England, they struggle to open you up. I don’t think they selected players who are capable of doing that on a regular basis. That’s what we’ll exploit. If you stop Jude Bellingham, I think you stop a lot of England. We’re very athletic and we’re very good defensively. And I think we’ve got a bit more than Ghana going forward.

“So I would say if we can hold them for as long as possible, we will get chances. And we just have to be clinical when we do get those chances. That’s the way I see us beating England.”

There will be plenty of familiar faces on either side, with Newcastle’s Yoane Wissa, Noah Sadiki of Sunderland and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all expected to start. Axel Tuanzebe even attended the same school – Ashton on Mersey, in Greater Manchester – as Marcus Rashford, as they were coming through the youth team at Manchester United. The Burnley defender has had an outstanding tournament so far.

Only six of the squad were born in the DRC, including Fiston Mayele who scored against Uzbekistan and left the domestic league in 2021 to play in Tanzania before moving to Egypt. Zakuani can take much of the credit for ensuring that Wissa, Tuanzebe and Sadiki – who is being tracked by Chelsea and United after an outstanding first season in the Premier League – pledged their allegiances to the Leopards. “I was assistant manager of the under-20s for a couple of years, and he [Sadiki] was in that squad. And straight away I was on WhatsApp to the [senior team] manager saying, this player shouldn’t be here, he should be with you,” Zakuani says of the Belgian-born midfielder.

“I had a long conversation with Sadiki and realised early on that he’s very passionate about playing for Congo. He’s so driven that he believed he should have been in the Belgian squad already at that point as a teenager. But he wanted to make the switch to Congo and he just felt that something was tugging him towards Congo.”

It is a trend that is becoming increasingly common, with emerging stars such as Morocco’s Ayyoub Bouaddi and Ibrahim Mbaye of Senegal both opting to turn their backs on France before the tournament. Wan-Bissaka took some persuading, even after Zakuani turned up at his parents’ house in Purley with Desabre after hatching a plan at the Costa Coffee around the corner. But the irony of Tuchel’s difficulties at right-back during the World Cup have not gone unnoticed, given the 28-year‑old played three times for England Under-21s .

“Aaron’s had a fantastic tournament,” Zakuani says. “I think he was unlucky not to be part of the England setup, especially not the year before last he got West Ham’s player of the year. When he didn’t get that England call-up, that’s when he said: ‘No, this is enough now.’ He was at that age where he needed to play international football.”

Having finished a point behind Senegal in their qualifying group and eliminated the African heavyweights Cameroon and Nigeria in the playoffs before beating Jamaica in the intercontinental final, the DRC have done it the hard way at this World Cup. But Zakuani hopes that a battle-hardened team is capable of delivering a seismic upset.

“That journey has probably stood us in good stead in terms of getting through the playoffs, getting used to playing under pressure consistently. The unity is there for everyone to see,” he says.

“Inside that dressing room, they believe they can get a result. I believe there could be a scalp here. I’m not just saying it because I’m on the Congolese side. I think it’s going to be a tighter match than everyone presumes.”