{"id":1904,"date":"2026-06-13T23:38:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T23:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1904"},"modified":"2026-06-13T23:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T23:38:27","slug":"dr-congos-world-cup-journey-begins-in-houston-amid-smiles-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1904","title":{"rendered":"DR Congo\u2019s World Cup journey begins in Houston amid smiles and hope"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>HOUSTON, June 12 (Reuters) &#8211; The Democratic Republic of Congo held an open training session in Houston on Friday in front of an enthusiastic crowd from the local Congolese \u200bcommunity as they put behind them concerns over the Ebola virus that hampered \u200ctheir build-up to the World Cup.<\/div>\n<div>The Congolese arrived in the United States on Thursday, one of the last teams to travel, and face Portugal in their Group K opener in Houston on Wednesday. Colombia and \u200bUzbekistan are the other two teams in the pool.<\/div>\n<div>The players were put through \u200btheir paces by coach Sebastien Desabre in sweltering humidity and under moody \u2060skies, but there were only smiles from the players after fans from the local \u200bCongolese community cheered as they trained.<\/div>\n<div>Desabre will be pleased to get on with the football \u200bafter having to move a planned friendly with Chile in Spain to France this week due to fears over the Ebola virus outbreak in the country, which as of Friday had 676 confirmed cases and claimed 136 \u200blives.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We are focussed on the first game against Portugal and doing well,&#8221; Desabre said \u200bas he spoke briefly with reporters. &#8220;All three games are important, but we are not looking past Portugal \u200cfor now.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>The \u2060Congolese squad are appearing at their first World Cup since the 1974 finals when they competed as Zaire, with high hopes of going deep into the knockout stages, both from the players and their fans.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;This is a chance for the Congolese community in Houston to \u200bcome together and \u200bcelebrate the team,&#8221; local \u2060resident Christina Badibanga told Reuters.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We want people to see and hear us, and we are all sharing pictures and videos on social \u200bmedia for the people back home (who could not travel to the \u200btournament due \u2060to restrictions around the Ebola virus).<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We are excited to participate in the World Cup after so long and show the vibrancy of our culture. This is very important to us, to \u2060share it \u200bwith the world.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>The team trained in front of 250 \u200bchildren from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, an organisation that offers after-school programs, mentorship and academic \u200bsupport to over 55,000 young students in the region.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1902\">Ukraine drone strikes kills one, sparks fire at Russian port of Temryuk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1901\">UK doctors\u2019 union suspends planned strikes, set to vote on new offer<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1899\">Beating the heat no problem for World Cup fans in sweltering Houston<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Democratic Republic of Congo held an open training session in Houston on Friday in front of an enthusiastic crowd from the local Congolese \u200bcommunity as they put behind them concerns over the Ebola virus that hampered \u200ctheir build-up to the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-1904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-soccer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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