{"id":26065,"date":"2025-12-17T21:27:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T21:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/?p=26065"},"modified":"2025-12-17T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T21:34:09","slug":"gael-kakuta-drafted-into-dr-congos-afcon-squad-at-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/fr\/gael-kakuta-drafted-into-dr-congos-afcon-squad-at-34\/","title":{"rendered":"Gael Kakuta Drafted into DR Congo\u2019s AFCON Squad at 34"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Awambeng Bukum<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Writer,kick442.com-Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>DR Congo have handed a late call\u2011up to veteran midfielder Ga\u00ebl Kakuta for the 2025 Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. The 34\u2011year\u2011old playmaker, currently plying his trade with Turkish second\u2011tier side Sakaryaspor, comes in to bolster the Leopards\u2019 squad in Group D, where they are drawn alongside Benin, Botswana and Senegal. Kakuta replaces Anderlecht midfielder Mario Stroeykens, who was ruled out through injury ahead of DR Congo\u2019s opening fixture.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Born in Lille, France, Kakuta enjoyed a highly\u2011rated youth career with French national teams before switching his international allegiance to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2017. He made his debut for the Leopards in a friendly against Kenya, scoring in a 2\u20111 defeat, and has since earned nearly 30 caps while contributing goals in qualifiers and tournament action.<\/p>\n<p>Though once touted as a prodigious talent at Chelsea and across Europe, Kakuta\u2019s journey has been a nomadic one \u2014 stretching across more than a dozen clubs in countries from France and England to Spain, China, Iran and now Turkey. Yet, his experience remains invaluable for DR Congo. He featured for the Leopards in AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast, where they reached the semi\u2011finals before losing narrowly, and his creativity, vision and calm on the ball could prove decisive in tight games in Morocco.<\/p>\n<p>Now 34, Kakuta brings leadership and tactical awareness to a Leopards midfield that will lean on seasoned pros as they seek to navigate a tricky Group D and mount a serious challenge for continental honours on African soil.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Copyright\u00a92025 kick442.com-Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>All rights reserved. This material and any other digital content on this platform may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, written, or distributed in full or in part, without written permission from our management.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This site is not responsible for the content displayed by external sites<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Awambeng Bukum Writer,kick442.com-Cameroon DR Congo have handed a late call\u2011up to veteran midfielder&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afcon","category-football"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - 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