The Democratic Republic of Congo qualified for the FIFA World Cup (WC) for the first time in 52 years after beating Jamaica 1-0 AET in the play-offs in their first-ever H2H meeting.
The stakes were incredibly high in this final qualifier in Zapopan, Mexico, with both nations aiming to qualify for the WC for just the second time in their respective histories.
Despite coming into the game with just one defeat in nine (W6, D2), Jamaica were heavy outsiders in the pre-match betting, and the Reggae Boyz thought they had fallen behind four minutes in when a neat passing move culminated with Meschack Eliadelivering a low cross into the six-yard box for Cedric Bakambu to guide into the back of the net. The DR Congo joy was short-lived, however, as the linesman’s offside flag was swiftly raised to deny the African nation an early lead.
DR Congo dominated the early stages as Bakambu came close to netting the opener as the quarter-hour approached, being left criminally unmarked in the box to head goalwards from Nathanael Mbuku’s free-kick, only to be denied as Andre Blake comfortably gathered the ball in his chest.
It was one-way traffic as Les Leopards continued to pepper the Jamaican goal with a host of efforts, but Blake was relatively untroubled following multiple off-target attempts. It took until the half-hour mark for Jamaica to threaten the DR Congo goal when Bobby De Cordova-Reid laid the ball off to the edge of the box for Kasey Palmer, whose drilled effort was blocked behind for a corner.
Elia then struck the woodwork for the African side before HT, leaving them frustrated with the failure to make their dominance count.
Les Leopards picked up right where they left off following the restart, as Bakambu once again came close to breaking the deadlock, this time curling an effort from 20 yards out that was excellently pushed behind by Blake.
The Jamaicans were on the back foot for the majority of the game, but with an hour played, they remained in the contest with the scoreline goalless. Sebastien Desabre turned to his bench for inspiration, and one of those introduced, Theo Bongonda, broke through the Jamaica defence before squaring to Bakambu to tap into an empty net, yet the Real Betis striker was ultimately denied by the offside flag for a second time.
In the end, neither side could find a breakthrough, and the contest headed into ET, where DR Congo finally made their pressure count in the 100th minute when Axel Tuanzebe bundled in from close range after Brian Cipenga’s corner kick was diverted into the centre-back’s path.
Despite Jamaica throwing everything forward, they were unable to breach Les Leopards’ defence, and although Edo Kayembe and Bakambu missed late chances to make it 2-0, the African side secured a place at the WC.
They will now be placed into Group K along with Portugal, Uzbekistan and Colombia, while the hopes of a second WC finals linger on for the Reggae Boyz as they fall short once again.
