@kadimus a écrit :I'm writing this in English, because I can express myself better without thinking of translating....so I apologize for that in advance.
The usual suspects on
“Parlons des Leopards” and
“Leopardfoot forum” are calling for Ibenge’s head, but are things really that bad with our Leopards?
I for one hope that Florent Ibenge stays with us until the end of the World Cup 2018 qualifications, and regardless of what happened or didn’t happen in Equatorial Guinea regarding his choices.
The thing is Ibenge’s job is so safe that the
“stubborn” coach can afford to say or do whatever he wants, because Omari has given him the freedom to run his team as he wants and feels. But of course that weapon called social media will make you believe that Ibenge out of his depth, some even as far as creating a whole topic called
“Ibenge est il l'homme de la situation?”
After our last qualification match against Sierra Leone, we all praised and sang his name loud and proud, then came the now infamous Mputu debacle, in which he decided not to include the Kaburscop player in his 23 due to the player’s lack of competition after coming back from a long term injury. People took that decision as ill-advised and some even went as far as saying “il est rancunier”.
Ibenge’s haters had been pretty calm during our first group game against Zambia at the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, they became noticeably bolder after the Cape Verde game.
“Soit l'homme est techniquement limite, soit il a les mains liees.” “Soit on est tous des fous, soit c'est Ibenge qui est fou.” “C'est triste de le dire, mais Ibenge a donne raison a ceux qui rechignent a faire confiance aux entraineurs africains” “Pour dirriger l'EN congolaise, il faut d'abord avoir du caractere fort et ensuite etre compentent.” “Ce gars ne merite pas le $18.000 du contrbuable congolais. Avec cette somme, on peut trouver un bon entraineur en Europe de l'Est ou en Amerique Latine.” I’m not attacking a particular person, but saying stuff like that really shows how
backwards our mentalities are.
Some fans went even as far as crying for Ibenge to reassemble a new starting XI but that would be a shame because the Leopards did not play half as bad as one would think considering where we were 8 months ago.
Are things really so bad that it is time for Ibenge to get the sack and hire a European coach?
The
reality is that the Leopards have not regressed over the past few months — and the
fact that they reached the
semifinals and played some beautiful football is testament to that. Ibenge’s
young team held their own in both the qualifiers as well as CAN 2015 and has taken a lot of
positives from the experience. I think that it was a good learning experience for the boys. We went through a though qualifying campaign. We played against some of the best teams in the continent and we stood face to face and came out with our heads held high.
Granted, they still have several fixes to take care of, but surely that does not warrant all the
unfair treatments that Ibenge is receiving.
And lest we forget, FECOFA president Constant Omari was pretty clear on the eve of this event that Ibenge had no pressure and was the absolute top man for the job. FECOFA treated getting to Equatorial Guinea as a bonus and there were no expectations placed on the coach. (at-least in public)
Ibenge himself, let’s not forget that he took control of this team some
3 weeks before the qualifications started and from the get go he said and kept on repeating that this team was a team in transition and he was building a team to challenge for
2017 and Russia
2018. Have we all forgotten that? Did we all forget the 3-4 victory in Abidjan?
This RDC squad is a work in progress and all the people who are part of the technical staff should be brave enough to point out the areas where they feel their boss stumbled or that they think he needs to fix. Not us, the “internet managers” who got their coaching badges on Football Manager 2015 or FIFA 15.
He has made mistakes along the way and it will be big of him to admit there are some things he could have done differently.
That said, Congolese football is in a far better place than it was when Ibenge took over, and it is how he takes it forward that will determine his destiny. (I would like someone to challenge that)
The bottom line is that there is a lot to be optimistic about and getting rid of the coach is a step backwards and I for one will keep on singing his praises. Ibenge coacheee coachee Ibenge!
On nous a mis ici les propos du coach à ce sujet parlant d'une douleur au genou de Mbokani ! Veux-tu plus que ça?
Et il compte intégrer son équipe nationale de coeur, qui est en recontruction et qui est à la recherche de jeunes joueurs, à ...... 30 ans ! 
donc jouer comme contre le Cap vert allait nous amener aux tirs au but, avec Kidiaba, on avait toutes nos chances en main!
