{"id":172076,"date":"2025-11-16T19:19:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T19:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-onyeka-with-early-goal-in-world-cup-2026-qualifier-final-the-athletic-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T19:19:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T19:19:04","slug":"nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-onyeka-with-early-goal-in-world-cup-2026-qualifier-final-the-athletic-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-onyeka-with-early-goal-in-world-cup-2026-qualifier-final-the-athletic-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria vs DR Congo live updates: Onyeka with early goal in World Cup 2026 qualifier final – The Athletic – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Football
2026 World
Cup Countdown
live
Updated 23s ago<\/span>
Nigeria<\/a> lead DR Congo with both teams desperate to keep their World Cup hopes alive in Morocco today.<\/strong>
Frank Onyeka<\/a>'s deflected shot beat Lionel Mpasi (3') to give his side a fantastic start in Rabat.
They are contesting the CAF play-off final, with a win seeing them progress to the intercontinental play-offs in March.
Nigeria XI: <\/strong>Nwabali; Fredrick, Ajayi, Bassey, Sanusi; Onyeka, Ndidi, Iwobi; Chukwueze, Osimhen, Lookman.
DR Congo XI: <\/strong>Mpasi; Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Mbemba, Masuaku; Sadiki, Moutoussamy, Mukau; Mbuku, Bakambu, Elia.
13' Nigeria 1-0 DR Congo<\/strong>
On that side, which won't come as a surprise to Jay<\/em>, Meschak Elia wins a soft decision in the corner as he rolls around, apparently injured. Zaidu Sanusi can only smile in disbelief.
DR Congo corner. Bent in, a poor punch from goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali and it falls to Mukau… who whacks it over with his weaker right foot!
Snatched at that a bit. On his stronger left, I think he hits the target there.
Pretty much all of the action is taking down one side of the pitch.
Nigeria's left contains Lookman, Iwobi and Sanusi but DR Congo have Wan-Bissaka, Sadiki and Elia.
It already looks like a fascinating battle down that side.
8' Nigeria 1-0 DR Congo<\/strong>
That goal is so, so avoidable for DR Congo. Meschak Elia wasn't close enough to marker Zaidu Sanusi, who was completely free to pick out a cross.
Masuaka's clearance was half-hearted and casual, and even then Mpasi was almost certain to save Onyeka's shot if Tuanzebe hadn't put his foot out and sent the ball over him.
Especially considering how defensively solid DR Congo are known for being, they will be frustrated with that.
That is the perfect start for Nigeria!
I am sat just behind their bench and they could not contain their excitement.
Everybody leapt onto the pitch and now their fans are starting to make some serious noise.
4' Nigeria 1-0 DR Congo<\/strong>
Calvin Bassey played it out to left-back Zaidu Sanusi on the flank, and with Wan-Bissaka occupied by Ademola Lookman's run, he continued dribbling down the line.
Sanusi slung in a high cross to the back post, where Arthur Masuaka had loads of time and space to take it down or put his boot through it.
Instead, he half-turned away from it and tried to flick it cutely with the outside of his foot. It fell to Frank Onyeka outside the box, who struck it hard and low towards the bottom-left corner.
Goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi was almost certainly going to get there but Axel Tuanzebe, fatally, stuck a leg out and his intervention meant the ball bobbled over Mpasi and in.
3' Nigeria 1-0 DR Congo<\/strong>
I DO NOT BELIEVE IT! Nigeria lead already!
Frank Onyeka is the man with it and the Nigeria supporters inside the stadium explode with delight.
1' Nigeria 0-0 DR Congo<\/strong>
It's a hell of an atmosphere at the Moulay Hassan Stadium, horns blowing, whistles and yells filling the air.
Bassey slams it away from the byline and Alex Iwobi controls it beautifully.
Here we go then.
Moroccan referee Jalal Jayed is the man in charge, he blows his whistle and we are officially up and running in Rabat.
Chancel Mbemba, the DR Congo captain, is playing in his 101st senior international match today.<\/p>\n

🇨🇩🇳🇬 1 minute until kick-off between Nigeria and DR Congo.
Who will come out on top and take a step closer to next year's World Cup?
Just listen to the noise.
Both teams have walked out onto the pitch and are ready for the anthems.
DR Congo Sebastien Desabre has a long history managing in African football.
The 49-year-old has taken charge of Ivorian side ASEC Mimosas, Tunisian team Esperance de Tunis, Egypt's Ismaily and Moroccan outfit Wydad Casablanca, among others.
Having managed Uganda between 2017 and 2019, he took another international management job with DR Congo back in 2022 with the aim of qualifying for this 2026 World Cup.
In the dugout for Nigeria and tasked with masterminding their route to the World Cup is Eric Chelle.
The Ivorian-born 48-year-old has been in position since January and has nine wins from his 14 matches in charge (three draws, two defeats).
A five-time Mali international who played for French clubs Valenciennes and Lens, among others, in his club career, the pressure is on as he leads a well supported and highly populated Nigeria.
Sebastien Desabre's three swaps to his starting line-up offer some suggestions for his side's setup today.
Arthur Masuaku still likes to get forward from left-back but offers a bit more defensive solidity than Joris Kayembe, who sometimes plays as a winger.
Ngal'Ayel Mukau is a really talented young player and might provide more technical ability and counter-attacking prowess than Charles Pickel in midfield.
Samuel Moutoussamy and Noah Sadiki will form a solid midfield engine room.
Finally, in attack, Meschak Elia is a big-game player and has a bit more experience than Theo Bongonda (60 caps to Bongonda's 30 before today) on the wing.
Bongonda will still be used off the bench, one would imagine.
Alex Iwobi has been a brilliant servant to his country over the last decade and today marks his 91st appearance for Nigeria.
Only Ahmed Musa (111), Vincent Enyeama (101) and Joseph Yobo (97) have more caps.
Given Iwobi is still only 29 years old, you would expect him to retire as the country's all-time leading appearance maker.
How he would love to close in on Musa's record at next summer's World Cup…
One of the stand-out players in this Nigeria is Atalanta's Ademola Lookman.
He backed up his Europa League final hat-trick at the end of the 2023-24 season with a brilliant campaign last term \u2014 he scored 20 goals and put on seven assists across Serie A and the Champions League.
Amid transfer interest linking him with a move away in the summer, he has returned to action in Serie A and has scored once in seven matches in 2025-26. He continues to be a key creative spark for Nigeria.
\u201cMola\u2019s sharp, man,\u201d defender and national team mate Calvin Bassey told The Athletic<\/em><\/strong><\/a> in 2024.
\u201cHe is the starboy. He is a baller, but take away his goals and look at the work rate. He tracks back, same as all of our attackers, and that\u2019s the foundation which sets him apart from other players on different teams.
\u201cI\u2019ve been lucky we\u2019ve been on the same team (in training). He\u2019s hard, he is tricky. He is not going to let you go easy. It\u2019s a good challenge. It keeps me and all of us on our toes.\u201d
They are as follows:
DR Congo substitutes: <\/strong>Fayulu (GK), Epolo (GK); Kapuadi, Kalulu, Bushiri, E. Kayembe, Stroeykens, Pickel, Balikwisha, Cipenga, Essende, Mayele.
The Democratic Republic of Congo line up as follows:
DR Congo (4-3-3): <\/strong>Mpasi; Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Mbemba, Masuaku; Sadiki, Moutoussamy, Mukau; Mbuku, Bakambu, Elia.<\/p>\n

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

International Football2026 WorldCup CountdownliveUpdated 23s agoNigeria lead DR Congo with both teams desperate to keep their World Cup hopes alive in Morocco today.Frank Onyeka's deflected shot beat Lionel Mpasi (3') to give his side a fantastic start in Rabat.They are contesting the CAF play-off final, with a win seeing them progress to the intercontinental play-offs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172077,"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-172076","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\/172076","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=172076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}