Mwepu Ilunga
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joseph Mwepu Ilunga | ||
| Date of birth | August 22, 1949 | ||
| Place of birth | Belgian Congo (today Democratic Republic of the Congo) |
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Joseph Mwepu Ilunga (born August 22, 1949) is a former football defender from Zaire (now DR Congo). His name is also written as Alunga Mwepu.
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[edit] Biography
Ilunga played for his country, then called Zaire, during the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where he became famous for running out of his team's defensive wall and kicking away a Brazilian free kick in the group match between the two nations (the final match in Group 2) before the ball was in play.[1] He was subsequently cautioned, however, some commentators felt that he seemed oblivious as to what he had done wrong.
However, Ilunga has claimed that he was quite aware of the rules – as would be expected from an experienced player in a successful side – and was hoping to convince the referee to send him off. The intended red card would have been a protest against his country's authorities, who were alleged to be depriving the players of their rightful earnings.[2] Zaire went on to lose that match 3–0.[3] They also lost their first two matches to Scotland 2–0 and Yugoslavia 9–0.
Zaire were then the first sub-Saharan African team to qualify for the World Cup finals, however during the tournament the players discovered they would not be paid.[4] Beyond his comic action for everybody against Brazil, there was a lot of despair: according to him, in a relact to Brazilian FourFourTwo, Mobutu Sese Seko's guards (who were getting the promised money) threatened the players if they lose for more than 3 goals against Brazil. "Most of the Brazilian players and the crowd thought that it was all hilarious, amateur act. I just could scream 'you cursed!' for all them, because nobody there knew the pressure that we was living".[5]
He played club football for TP Mazembe in his native Zaire.[citation needed]
[edit] Personal
Ilunga lives in DR Congo with his wife Jeanne Ilunga.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Top 50 football moments (Accessed June 10, 2006)
- ^ [1]
- ^ Official FIFA match report (Accessed June 10, 2006)
- ^ BBC Sport - "1974: Zaire's show of shame" (Accessed June 10, 2006)
- ^ "Famosos por 15 minutos", FourFourTwo, número 3, janeiro de 2009, Editora Cádiz, págs. 62-65
- ^ Observer - "Total recall " (Accessed June 10, 2006)
joseph ilunga mwepu still lives in DR congo with wife ilunga jeanne.have 4 children dominic mwepu in london ,his other son patric ilunga, lydie mwepu, and carine mwepu all live in london
[edit] External links
- The most extreme case of a professional footballer's ignorance of the game's most basic rules - The Guardian accessed 23 March 2006.
- Mwepu Ilunga's defensive flair - Youtube
- Mwepu Ilunga – FIFA competition record
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