DR Congo manager’s tactics may provide tougher challenge for England than Opta stats suggest

Despite the chances of victory in normal time being 73.9%, Sébastien Desabre has changed his approach for stronger teams such as England

England head into their match against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) expecting to win. Opta rates their chances of victory in normal time at 73.9%. Yet the tactics deployed by the DRC manager, Sébastien Desabre, will make it harder than this probability suggests.

Desabre has a clear strategy for facing the stronger teams in this tournament that differs from how he approached qualifying matches. The DRC used a four-man defence in 12 of their 13 games in qualification, retaining a back four in their pre-tournament friendly against Chile. They switched to a back five for a warm-up match with Denmark, using the same 5-3-2 formation for their group stage games with Portugal and Colombia. A DRC team ranked 65th in the world held sides rated 19th, sixth and 17th respectively to just two goals across these three games.

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