DR Congo defender Dylan Batubinsika calls on his teammates to stay calm ahead of their third-place playoff game against South Africa in the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023.

After a remarkable run at the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023, the Democratic Republic of Congo lost in the semi-finals to hosts Côte d’Ivoire on Wednesday evening at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe.

For defender Dylan Batubinsika, there are reasons for him and his teammates to be disappointed by the defeat, given what the Leopards have offered since the start of the competition.

“We’ll be disappointed for a while because we could go all the way,” the Saint-Etienne player said at a press conference.

Now they will have to put those regrets aside and search for a bronze medal on Saturday against South Africa, which Nigeria defeated at the Stade de Bouaké.

“I think we have a mixture of feelings with the elimination, but our ambition is to go and get this medal. We have to stay mobilized to finish in third place,” the player said.

He added,” We must be proud of what we’ve done so far; we’ve had a great run. We would have liked to go all the way, but that wasn’t the case.

The South Africa-RDC match will be played on Saturday, 10 February 2024, at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan at 20:00 GMT.