Congo fire coach after Uganda World Cup loss

Congo have fired coach Pierre Lechantre, making him the fourth coaching casualty since last month’s kick-off of the group stages of Africa’s World Cup qualifiers.

Congo’s 1-0 loss at Uganda on Saturday followed a home defeat to Egypt in October and left the country bottom of Group E without any points.

Congo also failed to qualify for January’s African Nations Cup finals in Gabon.

The decision was announced after the Frenchman met Congo Football Federation officials on Tuesday.

He had been in the job for almost one year in which time Congo won just once in seven outings.

South Africa suspended coach Ephraim Mashaba on Sunday despite the weekend win over Senegal for allegedly insulting top football association officials and he will face a disciplinary hearing this week.

If he is fired it will mean 25 percent of the coaches who started the group phase will have lost their jobs in less than 60 days.

Lechantre won the African Nations Cup with Cameroon in 2000 and has also been national coach of Qatar and Mali.