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West Ham’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka enjoyed one of the best moments of his football career during the March international break.
Wan-Bissaka helped the Democratic Republic of the Congo qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 42 years.
DR Congo beat Jamaica 1-0 after extra time at the Akron Stadium in Mexico to seal their place at the tournament.
The only negative from DR Congo’s qualification, from West Ham’s perspective, was Wan-Bissaka’s late return.
The right-back missed the Hammers’ FA Cup quarter-final against Leeds as he was still celebrating with his national team.
Any changes to this team? I wouldn’t drop KWP any time soon 👀
Credit: GRV Media Aaron Wan-Bissaka promises ‘full focus’ on West Ham
Wan-Bissaka missed West Ham’s FA Cup quarter-final earlier this month as he was not released from international duty.
The Congolese FA insisted on keeping the squad in the capital city, Kinshasa, to celebrate with President Felix Tshisekedi.
Wan-Bissaka stayed several extra days in DR Congo and returned to training the following week after the celebrations had ended.
The Hammers did not punish him for missing the Leeds game, but they did file a complaint with FIFA about DR Congo’s conduct.
Having missed the Leeds fixture, Wan-Bissaka was an unused substitute as Kyle Walker-Peters took his place against Wolves.
Wan-Bissaka has opened up on qualifying for the World Cup with DR Congo, but maintains his “full focus” is on West Ham.
“I’m very proud,” he told Premier League Productions. “I don’t think I realised how massive it was until we all got back to DR Congo and celebrated with the fans.
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“They’re so passionate, and you can tell how much it meant to them. I don’t think it’s properly sunk in yet that we have a World Cup to look forward to.
“For now, though, my full focus is on West Ham and the Premier League, and getting results in the games we’ve got left so we stay up.”
Wan-Bissaka now faces a challenge to win back his place in the starting XI over Walker-Peters ahead of the trip to Crystal Palace.
There is every chance that DR Congo’s off-the-cuff celebrations may have cost him regular minutes for the rest of the season.
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