by luxurious coach as had been the case after their Africa Cup triumph, had an empty army truck waiting for them. They were driven straight to the presidential palace, where Mobutu was waiting for them. The captain said "There he gave us an ear full. He looked at us over the rim of his glasses, like an angry dad to his children: "So you thought you would rebel? I gave you all a house and a car!". He was furious. Not one player dared to speak. It was deathly quiet. In the end I softly asked to have the word and I apologised for what happened. It's the only thing I could have done. He finished with "Next time I'll throw you all in jail."" As punishment none of the players could leave the country. A list in the port and the airport of their names was displayed with "Forbidden to leave the country". This scuppered the players prospects of moves to European clubs with the offers that came in after the World cup. After the World cup Mobutu lost interest in football and stopped actively using the national team as a political tool for promoting his regime. One of the players ended up being homeless. In 2012 a charity raised money for the surviving players to receive a small pension every month of a couple of hundred dollars. Record at the FIFA World Cup *Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out By Match Record by Opponent Zaire at West Germany 1974 Squad Head coach: Blagoje Vidinić Group 2 Yugoslavia beat Brazil, who in turn beat Scotland, by better goal difference Record players Ten players were fielded by head coach Vidinić on all three occasions, making them record players for the DR Congo to this day. References Countries at the FIFA World Cup World Cup