Our next Get German Football News “Bundesliga at AFCON” preview section examines Benin and Congo DR. There’s much of interest when it comes to th status of these two nations and the author should note that we’re going to bend the rules slightly here. Even though Augsburg striker Steve Mounie of Benin is technically out on loan at Alanyaspor Kulübü, we’re going to include him as a Bundesliga representative anyway. This decision is partially based on spite as the decision to loan out Mounie constituted one of the dumbest choices of any Bundesliga club during the last transfer window.
Mounie’s Augsburg teammate, striker Samuel Essende, happens to representing Congo DR and is struggling mightily in the German top flight. This dual development leads to the two sections being merged. Benin and Congo DR also share the same group. Group mates Senegal and Botswana definitely render Group D the proverbial “Group of Life”. With the exception of the already mentioned Gernot Rohr, the countries represented here also have interesting and competent coaches. It should prove most interesting when this group kicks off on Tuesday.
Benin: “The Cheetahs”
Sigh. The author happened to like this country much better before the national team re-branding. Back when these “Cheetahs” were referred to as “The Squirrels”, the “squirrelly” run to the 2019 AFCON quarterfinals made for much better aesthetic reporting. One should note that – like previously covered AFCON participant Tanzania – Benin are actually still seeking their very first win in this competition. The 2019 team punched through to the quarters with four draws. In three previous AFCONs (2004, 2008, and 2010), Benin bowed out in the group phase.
Notes on Beninois Football in Germany
This densely packed West African nation has produced a surfeit of Bundesliga professionals. Rohr is actually even the third German national team trainer to take charge of what was Reinhard Fabisch’s last coaching station. Moudachirou Amadou and Moussa Latoundji once played for the Energie Cottbus teams that fluctuated between the first and second divisions during the late 1990s and early aughts. Amadou also spent years in the East with Aue. Former Dynamo Dresden front man Mickaël Poté put in his time in the former DDR as well, but only stopped over for a couple of seasons.
A couple of other players made it over to Germany or neighboring Switzerland/Austria for a few cups of coffee during their careers. Former Benin international Dinalo Adigo sired a German son named Ryan who also played in the East for years and recently picked up a cap. Bochum-native Cebia Soukou (21 Benin caps) was on the 2019 squad (whilst still playing for Rostock) and is well remembered for getting Arminia Bielefeld off the mark with a goal on the opening day of the 2020/21 campaign. That would be the first and last goal of Soukou’s short top flight career.
Bundesliga watchers were very much looking forward to watching St. Pauli’s Andreas Hountondji in action during this tournament, but the 23-year-old ended up declining his call-up as he continued to rehab a thigh injury. Hountondji unfortunately couldn’t keep pace with the lightning quick Bundesliga start that saw him score three goals in his first three league fixtures. Tragically enough, it was not long after Hountondji a 6th-minute 1-0 opener against the mighty Bayern Munich on match-day 12 that Hountondji had to be subbed off. St. Pauli lost the match 1-2. Hountondji hasn’t appeared since.
Bundesliga AFCON Representatives, Benin
Steve Mounie, FC Augsburg
The 31-year-old genuinely looked strong in FCA training camp and absolutely should have been given his shot in the Fuggerstadt. The loan out to Turkey hasn’t really benefitted anyone. Mounie has been struggling with a knee injury and not gotten his name on the scoresheet in seven Süper Lig appearances. One may take solace in the fact that Mounie still performs well for country, notching two tallies during the September international break. Now with 22 Benin goals to his credit, Mounie could overtake former Sunderland and West Brom midfielder Stéphane Sességnon to become his country’s all-time leading goal-scorer soon.
Come back to Germany!
Congo DR: “The Leopards”
The Leopards return to, ideally, write another exciting chapter in their fabulous tome of African footballing history. Sebastian Desabre’s team – thanks in part to a great goal from former VfB Stuttgart star Silas – made it all the way to the 2023 semi-finals. We might as well get the bad topical news out of the way first. To the disappointment of literally all German footballing fans, this much-discussed “Silas Comeback” is in all likelihood never happening. We’re all going to just have to let it go. No sense ruminating on what might have been. Everything’s gone wrong for the “footballing artist formerly known as Silas Wamangituka”.
We’ll have to settle for Samuel Essende instead.
Notes on Congolese Football in Germany
In this author’s lifetime, there’s always been a reason for Germans to follow the Congolese team. Congo DR’s lone World Cup appearance came at the 1974 German-hosted tournament. That also happened to be the year (competing under the Zaire name at that time) that this country captured its last AFCON title. Kakoko Etepé featured on both tournament rosters. It would still be a few years before Etepé blazed the trail for footballers from this nation in Germany. He did end up becoming one of Africa’s first 1980s German success stories.
The CAF legend initially signed on with Stuttgart before moving to Saarbrücken in 1982. Etepé eventually recruited fellow countryman Jean “Santos” Muntubila to play for Saarbrücken and himself settled into the area to raise a family. Kakoko’s Saarbrücken-born son Yannick worked in the FC Bayern Academy for a time before embarking on a journeyman career throughout the German lower divisions and Polish league. Most Germans remain familiar with Etepé’s story as it’s a truly heartwarming one.
Etepé, like many early African footballers in the Bundesrepublik at that time, never played football full-time. His journey to Germany came via a part-time job at a local Mercedes plant. The company sent him to Stuttgart to train with the Bundesliga side based on his athletic ability. After three years of waiting for a visa and four more working with the VfB reserves, he made one single solitary Bundesliga appearance with the Swabians. Etepé’s name will live forever in German footballing lore.
Bundesliga enthusiasts retain fond memories of this country’s run to the semi-finals in the 2015 tournament. Bundesliga veteran and German citizen Cedric Makiadi ended his career on a high note by finishing third that year with the team. There already existed some sympathy for the country due to the successful Bundesliga careers of Kakoko Etepé, Hervé Lembi, and Assani Lukimya-Mulongoti. A common joke that year involved Wolfsburg flop Dieumerci Mbokani finally finding his shooting boots.
Players such as Marcel Tisserand and Chadrac Akolo gave Germans some grounds to root for the 2017 and 2019 tournament teams; both of whom did furnish some excitement by making the knockouts. It was great to welcome them back in 2023 after they failed to qualify in 2021. Somehow, AFCON just doesn’t seem complete without these Sky Blues. The Azures truly belong in every tournament. In fairness so too do shock absences Ghana.
Bundesliga AFCON Representatives, Congo DR
Samuel Essende, FC Augsburg
Technically, Essende qualifies as a Bundesliga AFCON rep…..even though he barely qualifies as a Bundesliga player. After being forced to sit out the first three Bundesliga fixtures of the season due to the ban incurred late last year, Essende scored in his first match off the bench. That was it. Essende hasn’t started a match or gotten his name on the scoresheet yet. Watching him in a couple of live scouts at the WWK-Arena, the author can only say that something is horribly wrong here. The 27-year-old seems to have forgotten the basics of his position.
When it comes to Augsburg mismanagement of its strikers, things get even more ridiculous on this roster. The French striker Augsburg bought back from Zagreb and then loaned out to Montpelier this season, Nathanaël Mbuku, is doing well in France and scored his first goal for country this past September. Should Mounie score against Congo and Mbuku earn more minutes than Essende, we can all truly say that Augsburg have made every last wrong choice a top division side could have made this past offseason. Yowza.
