In the second half, with Brazil leading 2-0 and Brazilian Rivellino preparing to take a free kick towards Zaire’s goal, Zaire defender Mwepu Ilunga suddenly jumped out of the wall and kicked the ball high and far into the opponents’ half.
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Such an action confused everyone – fans, opponents, teammates, the referee.
M. Ilunga was punished with a yellow card, and then faced great ridicule.
Many thought that Africans (Zaire was the first team from Sub-Saharan Africa to reach the final stage of the World Cup) did not even know the rules of football. The team was dubbed “football clowns.”
“A strange moment that showed Africa’s ignorance,” was how English commentator John Motson described the situation at the time. This attitude towards the situation took hold.
However, it was wrong. M. Ilunga was a professional and it would be hard to imagine that he did not know the usual football rules. He had represented the Zaire team since 1971 and became the African Cup of Nations champion in 1974.
“I knew the football rules. I did it on purpose,” he said to the BBC in 2010.
His action had a reason, and it was not related to football but to politics. And quite sad, as it was connected to the country’s dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and his cronies.
Football as a propaganda tool
After the 1965 military coup in Congo, the brutal and cruel dictator Mobutu Sese Seko ruled the country from 1965 to 1997. In 1971, he changed the country’s name to Zaire.
The dictator used his power to amass enormous wealth and distributed the country’s money as his own.
Mobutu viewed sport as a public relations tool that could bring fame to the country – and to himself. Therefore, he paid great attention to sports.
His greatest success was the “Rumble in the Jungle” – the 1974 fight held in Zaire’s capital Kinshasa between two of the most famous boxers of the time, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, for the world heavyweight championship title.
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To organize this fight, Mobutu invested a lot of his country’s money. The fight was accompanied by a three-day music festival featuring famous US music names of the time – James Brown, B.B. King, Celia Cruz, and The Pointer Sisters.
This indeed added fame to the country – many people around the world learned the name Zaire. However, it did not improve the lives of ordinary Zairians at all.
Football was another area to which Mobutu devoted a lot of money and where the national team achieved results.
Led by a specially hired coach from Yugoslavia, Blagoje Vidinić, Congo/Zaire footballers won three African club champion titles from 1967 to 1973, the African Cup of Nations in 1968 and 1974, and in the same year 1974, they performed successfully in the World Cup qualifiers, not losing a single match.
In 1974, after triumphing in the African Cup of Nations, the entire team was invited to a personal audience with Mobutu. At that time, he was so afraid of assassination attempts that he rarely left his residence.
For many footballers who grew up in poverty, visiting the luxurious residence and seeing the all-powerful head of state was a huge impression.
The players later recounted how Mobutu said he was proud of their achievements and even how good they looked in yellow shirts.
Mobutu promised each player a house, a car, and $20,000 in cash. He also promised the best conditions while the national team participated in the World Cup, which was held in West Germany.
The dream met reality
At first, everything really seemed great. The Zaire team flew to the championship on a specially chartered plane, they were picked up from the airport by brand new Mercedes minibuses, they were booked into a luxury hotel, and promised huge daily allowances.
