Brazil’s Rivellino stands over the ball, waiting to take a free kick just outside the Zaire box. Brazil lead 3-0 late in the match. The defenders make a wall, but before the free kick can be taken, Zaire defender Mwepu Ilunga sprints full pelt away from it towards the ball and boots it as hard as he can downfield. No one has ever seen anything like it before or since. What was going on?
Group 2 of the World Cup in West Germany, 1974 consisted of a strong Yugoslavia, the glamour of Brazil, the unlucky Scots (they would remain undefeated on 4 points but still not qualify for the next stage), and Zaire, who had won the African Cup of Nations that year, after winning it for the first time in 1968.
It was a time where sport had been financed heavily in Zaire. Joseph-Désiré Mobutu had consolidated his power as leader of the country with the establishment of the Popular Movement of the Revolution as the sole legal political party in 1967. He then changed his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko in 1972, a year after he’d changed the name of the country from Congo to Zaire. Later in 1974 the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ took place, one of the most famous boxing bouts in history, Muhammad Ali knocking out the undefeated George Foreman in the eighth round after a rope-a-dope strategy.
Sport was central to Mobutu’s strategy, as is often the case with authoritarian regimes. It helped him to manufacture national pride and take eyes away from the economic failings of the regime, whilst at the same time projecting his own image on the international stage.
The football team had been heavily financed and promised bonuses should they perform well at the World Cup, the first time the country had qualified. A change of nickname to ‘the leopards’ also added mystique to the team, and so far it had worked with the AFCON victory. Zaire would be the first sub-Saharan country to compete at a World Cup and this meant a lot to a dictator like Mobutu. He rewarded the players and coaches with a car and a house after qualification. There were massive bonuses promised for them to perform at the tournament in West Germany.
It didn’t quite work out as planned. In the opening match Zaire lost 2-0 to Scotland in what could have been a heavier defeat. It was after the opening match that word got through to the players that they would not be paid. They refused to play the next match but were persuaded to, in what became a 9-0 defeat to Yugoslavia. Then in the final game against reigning World Champions Brazil in Gelsenkirchen came the famous wall incident.
Five defenders stood in the wall late in the match as Rivellino waited to take the free kick. Before he could, Mwepu Ilunga does his thing. Booting the ball away. At the time there was a colonial, racist analysis of the incident in the way European broadcasters reacted. It was mocked as the players not understanding the basic rules of the game and it has become one of those ‘World Cup moments’ that is forever laughed at. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We’ve since learned that one of Mobutu’s bodyguards was sent to the dressing room after the 9-0 defeat and told them that if they lost by four or more goals to Brazil in the final group game, they would not be allowed to return home. That is unimaginable pressure, with players not only thinking of their own safety but of their families and loved ones back home too.
It was an act of protest, with Ilunga hoping to be sent off (he was only given a caution), and also deliberate time-wasting, as a fourth goal would meet the threshold the players had been warned about. It was defiance against the regime on the global stage.
After the World Cup, the Yugoslav coach didn’t go back to Zaire, instead going back to his home country. For the players, an empty army truck waited for them on arrival and they were driven straight to Mobutu. He gave them a dressing down, the captain Mantantu Kidumu apologised and Mobutu responded with “next time I’ll throw you all in jail.” None of the players would be allowed to leave the country, stopping some of them from European club transfers that would have transformed their lives. Mobutu also lost interest in football after the World Cup and stopped using the Leopards as a political tool. It was a sad end for a team that had performed well over the previous few years.
Can a dictator ever teach you how to defend a free kick?
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