{"id":172058,"date":"2025-11-16T15:18:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-world-cup-2026-qualifier-caf-final-latest-including-team-news-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T15:18:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:18:02","slug":"nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-world-cup-2026-qualifier-caf-final-latest-including-team-news-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-world-cup-2026-qualifier-caf-final-latest-including-team-news-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria vs DR Congo live updates: World Cup 2026 qualifier CAF final latest including team news – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Football
2026 World
Cup Countdown
live
Updated 3m ago<\/span>
Nigeria take on DR Congo with both teams desperate to keep their World Cup hopes alive in Rabat, Morocco today.<\/strong>
They are contesting the CAF play-off final, with a win seeing them progress to the intercontinental play-offs in March.
Nigeria beat Gabon 4-1 after extra time on Thursday to reach this stage, while DR Congo edged past Cameroon.
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Nigeria finished second place in Group C behind the 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa in a very tight 2026 World Cup qualification group.
South Africa were top with 18 points, and though Nigeria pipped third-placed Benin on goal difference, both finished on 17, one off the South Africans.
Hence the play-off.
Nigeria failed to win any of their first four qualification matches, but the appointment of Eric Chelle in January coincided with an upturn in form as Nigeria won four and drew two of their remaining qualifiers.
While DR Congo's selection looks like this.
Goalkeepers: <\/strong>Matthieu Epolo, Timothy Fayulu, Lionel Mpasi.
Defenders: <\/strong>Rocky Bushiri, Steve Kapuadi, Joris Kayembe, Gedeon Kalulu, Arthur Masuaku, Chancel Mbemba, Axel Tuanzebe, Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Midfielders: <\/strong>Michel-Ange Balikwisha, Theo Bongonda, Meschak Elia, Edo Kayembe, Nathanael Mbuku, Ngal'ayel Mukau, Samuel Moutoussamy, Charles Pickel, Noah Sadiki, Mario Stroeykens.
Forwards: <\/strong>Cedric Bakambu, Brian Cipenga, Samuel Essende, Fiston Mayele.
Here are the players available to Eric Chelle for this international break:
Goalkeepers: <\/strong>Stanley Nwabali, Amas Obasogie, Maduka Okoye.
Defenders: <\/strong>Semi Ajayi, Chidozie Awaziem, Calvin Bassey, Benjamin Fredrick, Bruno Onyemaechi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Zaidu Sanusi, William Troost-Ekong.
Midfielders: <\/strong>Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi, Raphael Onyedika, Frank Onyeka, Alhassan Yusuf.
Forwards: <\/strong>Akor Adams, Tolu Arokodare, Samuel Chukwueze, Chidera Ejuke, Ademola Lookman, Olakunle Olusegun, Victor Osimhen, Moses Simon.
It's a pretty busy day of fixtures during this international break. Here's a selection of who else is playing today, in a mixture of World Cup qualifiers (WCQs) and international friendlies (IFs).
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Moulay Hassan Stadium, Rabat, Morocco<\/strong>
Home of club FUS Rabat since 2012<\/strong>, the stadium has been recently renovated in preparation for Morocco hosting the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The capacity is 22,000<\/strong> and the stadium is part of a wider sports complex in the city of Rabat, the country's capital city.
For those of you looking to tune in to the action alongside our live coverage, here's how you can do it:
The match begins at 8pm<\/strong> local time in Rabat, Morocco, which is 7pm GMT <\/strong>in the UK.
Across the pond in the United States, that works out as 2pm ET<\/strong> on the east coast and 11am PT<\/strong> on the west.
Hello and welcome everyone to The Athletic<\/em><\/strong>, where today we are covering Nigeria vs DR Congo live in a crucial qualifier for the 2026 World Cup.
This is a huge match for both teams\u2019 hopes of qualifying for next summer\u2019s tournament, with this the final of a mini-tournament for qualification from the CAF region covering African football.
The winner today will progress to the inter-confederation play-offs in March. So these two teams are still two wins away from the World Cup.
There's plenty of build-up over the next few hours, so stick with us. We've got you covered.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International Football2026 WorldCup CountdownliveUpdated 3m agoNigeria take on DR Congo with both teams desperate to keep their World Cup hopes alive in Rabat, Morocco today.They are contesting the CAF play-off final, with a win seeing them progress to the intercontinental play-offs in March.Nigeria beat Gabon 4-1 after extra time on Thursday to reach this stage, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}