It took him less than 20 minutes to find out what the first goal in the national team’s jersey tastes like. Kabongo didn’t score in the 17th, 19th and 20th rounds, and at the end of the week he said: “I hope I’ll see it in the 21st round.”
It worked out – and coach Jan Suchopárek can have a trump card in the original striker for qualification for the EURO, which will start for the new pack of Lvíčat already on Tuesday in Iceland. “Chris is a confident and elastic type who can deceive with his body. He has good possession of the ball and manages to pass over two, three players. Even against Slovakia, he had a chance to score more than one goal. He was able to get rid of the defender in front of him, which not many players can do in Czech football. It’s true, after losing the ball it’s not quite optimal for him, but it can be worked with,” Suchopárek described.
“It’s good that we were able to play against Slovakia and now we hope to start the qualification well as well,” explains Kabongo, an admirer of the iconic tandem of Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi. “As a boy, I only devoured Ronaldo. So many years at the top, so many trophies! I started to recognize Messi only later. As I mature, I realize how difficult it is to stay in professional sports and especially at the level of Ronaldo and Messi. They are machines and fools in the best sense of the word,” he says with enthusiasm in his voice.
Ronaldo and Messi are well-known companies, but Kabonga is only now discovering Czech football. Here is a short biography: dad is from the African Democratic Republic of the Congo, mom is from Russia, and little Christophe grew up in Prague.
“I had a nice childhood full of football,” recalls the handsome guy with shaggy hair. Meteor, Sparta, Slavia, Sparta again and at the age of sixteen he left for Lommel in Belgium, which cooperates with the famous Manchester City. It is exactly in the spirit of the credo of its agent Martin Krob: life is a factory for fulfilled wishes. “I totally agree with that,” Kabongo nods his head.
As a teenager in Belgium, he first experienced a shock. “Alone in a foreign country and far from home for the first time. I lived in a family and the first six months were very difficult. But at the same time, I knew that I had to manage it, I had no thoughts of returning home,” he recalls.
First start in the national team and scored a goal after 20 minutes on the pitch. ⚽😱 Striker Christophe Kabongo had a great debut among the “Lion Cubs” on Thursday. 👏👏👏 There was a lot of interest in taking a selfie with the goal scorer. 🤩
— Czech national football team (@ceskarepre_cz) September 8, 2023
This winter, after arriving on loan to the FK Železiarne Podbrezová team, he surprised: “I have not heard of the club until now.” Now she is one of its main faces. He impressed right away in the spring when he scored five goals and helped the Conference League playoffs. “I enjoy it in Podbrezová, I sat down with the boys early. In addition, the first Slovak league is of better quality than the second Belgian league, which Lommel plays,” emphasizes Kabongo.
He quickly settled in the town of 4,000 people east of Banská Bystrica: “It’s an ideal environment for a young player to develop there. There are no distractions.” Even Czech coach Roman Skuhravý, who started his third season in Podbrezová, knows this. “Maybe the best coach I’ve had. He is demanding of me and knows exactly what to work on. If he just stroked my head and said I was flawless, I wouldn’t care much,” explains Kabongo.
He should stay in Podbrezová until the end of the season. And then? “One day I would like to play in a top club. City, Bayern, Real, Barcelona…” he dreams. “Everywhere I go, I want to be the best. That’s how I’ve always been.’
Will he be the best even in his twenties? He performed in style, even though he did not finish against Slovakia. He pulled a hamstring and was substituted just in case. But he immediately assured that he will make it to the prologue of the European qualification on Tuesday. “The EURO is not only a great motivation for me, hopefully we will get there,” hopes Kabongo. How many goals did you score in qualifying?
2023-09-09 20:42:53
#Czechia #Kabong #dont #types #coach #Lvíčat #Sport.cz
