Noni Madueke has cautioned that England cannot afford to underestimate the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as they prepare for their upcoming encounter. He anticipates a significantly more fluid attacking performance compared to their previous match against Ghana in the group stages.
In their last outing, England faced challenges in breaking down Carlos Queiroz’s side during a goalless draw in Boston, and they expect the DRC to adopt a similar counterattacking strategy for their last-32 clash in Atlanta on Wednesday. Madueke, who started against Croatia and Ghana, lost his position to Arsenal teammate Bukayo Saka for the victory over Panama.
Saka is expected to maintain his role on the right flank of England’s attack, while Djed Spence is likely to be positioned at right-back due to injuries to Reece James and Jarell Quansah. However, Madueke warns that the DRC squad, featuring several Premier League players such as Yoane Wissa from Newcastle and Noah Sidiki of Sunderland, should not be taken lightly.
Madueke stated, “I expect a difficult game for sure. When you get to this stage of the World Cup, you can’t take any opposition lightly. They will have their strengths and their qualities that they try to impose in the game. This game will definitely be difficult and we’ll be ready from the start.”
“It’s not just us. I feel like every team has difficulties with the opposition setting up 11 players in 30 metres of space. It’s not easy to break down. I think we’ve seen other top nations struggle as well. Spain, Portugal in the last game. It’s just part of football now. “Of course, when you play England, naturally you’re going to have a defensive approach because of the quality in our team. From our perspective, we have the same patterns and we’ll look to try and implement them a little bit better than we did in the last game versus Ghana, which probably will be similar to this one.”
Madueke, who was reportedly set to take the sixth penalty in Arsenal’s shootout loss to Paris Saint-Germain last month before Gabriel Magalhães missed crucially, has been practicing penalty kicks alongside the rest of the squad. He emphasized the importance of maintaining composure if Wednesday’s match goes to penalties.
“A lot of it is psychological,” he explained. “How you strike the ball, depending on your run-up and whether you stop or whether you wait for the keeper, or whether you just pick a corner and look to strike it as cleanly as possible. All those things go into it.”
Reflecting on his competition with Saka for selection at both club and country level since his transfer from Chelsea to Arsenal last summer, Madueke noted, “I feel like you always have to be at the highest level because you know you have a top player waiting and biting at your heels to try and get in the team. I think that type of healthy competition is good. Playing for Arsenal and England, you don’t really need anyone else to keep you at the highest level.”
