The Democratic Republic of Congo is on the verge of its second World Cup, the first in 52 years! Its only participation, under the name of Zaire, came in Germany ’74
The qualification phase led by Sebastien Desabre’s men is worthy of merit. They finished second in Group B, behind Senegal (24), with 22 points from a possible 30. As a result, they qualified for the African play-offs as one of the four best runners-up.
In the playoffs, they caused a stir by eliminating Cameroon (0-1) in the semi-finals with a goal from Chancel Mbemba in the 91st minute, and in the final they surprised Nigeria again in a ‘diabolical’ penalty shootout.
The Leopards changed their goalkeeper – Lionel Mpasi made way for Timothy Fayulu – just before the shootout and, despite the fact thatMoutoussamy and Tuanzebemissed two of the first three kicks, they ended up qualifying (3-4) for the Intercontinental play-off – to be played in March –thanks to a goal by Mbemba himself from 11 meters.
During the shootout, however, there was another incident that did not go unnoticed. Just before the last kick, Eric Chelle began to make gestures and recriminations to the DR Congo bench. Once Mbemba scored, the Nigeria coach had to be restrained to prevent them from coming to blows.
“During the whole penalty shootout, the boy from Congo did some voodoo.
During the entire penalty shootout, the boy from Congo did some voodoo
I don’t know if it’s water or something, you know,”Nigeria coachDemocratic Republic of Congo
staff was supposedly
shaking repeatedly
during a shootout in which
Bassey, Simons and Ajayi‘Green Eagles’.
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