Nigeria, with Lookman and Osimhen, won’t be on the 2026 World Cup: the nationwide workforce paid for quite a few errors throughout these qualifiers and misplaced on penalties in opposition to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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This would be the second consecutive version that Nigeria will miss, after having certified for six of the earlier 7 editions.
Congo, then again, secures a ticket to the inter-confederation playoff, which may deliver them again to a World Cup for the primary time in 52 years, as their solely look was in 1974, when the nation was nonetheless known as Zaire.
🥵 Tense match in Rabat
The playoff in Rabat was a tense affair, which was unlocked instantly due to a purpose by Brentford’s Onyeka: a lightning diagonal shot from the sting of the field, with a slight deflection off a defender that deceived the Congolese goalkeeper Mpasi.
Congo then discovered the equalizer simply after the half-hour mark with Elia from Alanyaspor, who completed off a counterattack in opposition to a very open Nigerian protection.
🥶 Additional time, double threat
The match went into further time, the place Congo had the possibility to shut out the sport twice: on each events, Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali saved the ball on the road.
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On the primary event, Sadiki scored: the ball crossed the road, however based on the referee, the Congolese attacker had pushed away a defender, and the purpose was disallowed after a VAR evaluation.
The second likelihood got here within the last motion of the match, with Nwabali pressured to crash into the put up to maintain the rating degree.
The match went to penalties: there have been so many errors that it took till the fourth shot to see the web bulge.
Noteworthy was Ejuke’s penalty, which he scored regardless of a water bottle being thrown from the stands just some centimeters from the penalty spot as he was about to take the shot.
In the long run, it went to sudden loss of life and the decisive penalty was transformed by Congolese captain Mbemba, who had been celebrated by his teammates earlier than the match for his one hundred and first look for the nationwide workforce.
The environment was extraordinarily tense in the course of the penalties, with the 2 coaches coming to blows: apparently, Congo’s coach Desabre prevented Nigerian coach Sekou Chelle from attacking a member of his workers.
Briefly, loads of stress for Nigeria as they miss out on a second consecutive World Cup.
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This text was translated into English by Synthetic Intelligence.
📸 ISSOUF SANOGO – AFP or licensors