Exclusive:Rocky Bushiri's upcoming Hibs and World Cup battles as defender delivers warning to rivals
Motherwell still in sights - and Democratic Republic of Congo just one game from ending 52-year exile
Still in there swinging away. Still doing more than merely dream about ending this season of struggle with a spectacular crescendo of life-affirming joy.
Rocky Bushiri, never one to shirk a fight, must feel like he’s facing one battle after another at the moment. Competing on two fronts. With everything at stake, every time he takes the field. He couldn’t be happier.
“I mean, you know how I am as a person,” he says, with a look that leaves little room for misinterpretation, the Hibs centre-half adding: “I fall, it happens, then I get up. It’s the same as a team. We fall, we go again - and we always get up.”
Bushiri barely had time to go home and pack after Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park before he needed to switch focus to a World Cup play-off with the potential to drive 100 million people wild with excitement. The Democratic Republic of Congo defender will, by the time you read this, already be at his nation’s training base in Mexico.
The DRC haven’t been to a World Cup since the 1974 finals, when the young African nation – still called Zaire at the time – lost to Scotland, Yugoslavia and Brazil. They’ll make it to this summer’s tournament if they win next Tuesday night’s play-off final in Guadalajara, where they’ll face the winners of Friday’s semi-final between Jamaica and New Caledonia.
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Congolese star in ‘fight’ vow
If the prospect of helping end his country’s 52-year wait for qualification represents the ultimate prize for Bushiri, the Hibs favourite is no less determined to achieve something special for the club where he’s grown into a player of such stature. Despite Saturday’s goalless grind leaving David Gray’s men still trailing Motherwell by six points in the race to finish fourth in the Scottish Premiership, you won’t find Rocky waving any white flag of surrender.
“This could be an incredible end to the season, of course,” he said. "I could get to the World Cup and Hibs could get back into European football.
“I know the gap is still six points. But we still feel we can catch them (Motherwell).
“What is six points in football today? You have to keep going.
“They know we are there and we are breathing just behind them. So let's fight till the end. Then we’ll see.
“That’s also five games unbeaten for us. I know there were games where we wanted to win and do better, where I'm responsible for things, but I won't give up.
“Seven games to go, 21 points to play for, so it's still on. And we want to go to Europe again, so we have to do everything for it.
“I have to switch on very quick to the international challenge. That's how football goes.
“But I don’t feel too bad about the Motherwell game. I mean, second clean sheet in a row.
“Okay, we wanted to win. You can tell both teams wanted to win, but probably a draw is a fair result for both teams, so you have to take that.
“It might be a very important point later in the season. Nobody knows how the next few weeks will change.
“And it's very important to get clean sheet. Because before you want to score a win, you have to be defensive solid and try to avoid mistakes and stay concentrated for the whole 90 minutes.”
Bushiri, who signed a new three-year contract with Hibs last summer after briefly flirting with the joys of free agency, re-committed himself to the Easter Road club partly because he saw a road to this point as a full international with the DRC. He knew that playing regularly, and getting the chance to compete in European football, would give him the best possible chance of continuing to represent his nation.
The 26-year-old, whose late grandfather - Albert Kisonga Mazakala - was the DRC’s ambassador to Belgium, was brought up speaking Swahilli and Lingala, among a whole swathe of European languages, and was never allowed to forget his roots. Even when he was picked to play for Belgium at Under-21 level, he was thinking about what he calls a “no way back” switch of international allegiance.
Defender played in AFCON win
The former Norwich City signing, who started in his nation’s 3-0 win over Botswana during their run to the Africa Cup of Nations last 16 around the turn of the year, will have parents Roger Bushiri and Bibiche Kisonga watching from the best seats at the Guadalajara Stadium. It’s fair to say that excitement levels back home – and the DRC is considered home by Rocky, still annoyed when people mistakenly describe him as Belgian-born – are through the roof.
Bushiri said: “Now I'm excited, obviously. I think it's the most important game of our lives for the nation, so I'm determined to go now and represent Congo and hope to qualify for the World Cup.
“It’s been so long. And we all know how important it is.
“And I've heard lots of fans have already left Congo to go to Mexico, so we will do it hand in hand. Yeah, exciting times.
“Those are moments when you start playing football, the days and nights you dream about. To help my country get to the World Cup would be the ultimate achievement.
“I have my parents going over with me, so that's nice. They are so proud because, of course, they were so important in my connections with the Congo.
“You know my family background, how important they are to me, the family connection. That's why I wanted to make sure that my parents are there with me. So yeah, let's start the adventure.”