{"id":172082,"date":"2025-11-16T20:19:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T20:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-elia-goal-ties-world-cup-2026-qualifier-caf-final-the-athletic-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T20:19:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T20:19:04","slug":"nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-elia-goal-ties-world-cup-2026-qualifier-caf-final-the-athletic-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/nigeria-vs-dr-congo-live-updates-elia-goal-ties-world-cup-2026-qualifier-caf-final-the-athletic-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria vs DR Congo live updates: Elia goal ties World Cup 2026 qualifier CAF final – The Athletic – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Football
2026 World
Cup Countdown
live
Updated 55s 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 (3') gave his side a fantastic start before Meschak Elia equalised from close range (32').
Nigeria's talismanic striker Victor Osimhen was taken off for Akor Adams<\/a> at half-time.
The winner of the CAF play-off final today progresses to the intercontinental play-offs in March.
57' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
Noah Sadiki is down in the box! There's a VAR check…
I don't think it is a coincidence that Nigeria have looked very flat at the start of the second half.
Losing Osimhen stings but they need to regroup.
They keep creating trouble for themselves at the back while Adams, Lookman and Chukwueze have barely touched the ball.
55' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
The promising Ngal'Ayel Mukau sprints into the box, bright run, but his cross is only lifted into Nwabali's hands.
DR Congo look more energetic at the start of the half. Nigeria a little subdued.
54' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
From the resulting corner Cedric Bakambu gets a deft touch from a tight angle and the ball squirts towards Stanley Nwabali's near post but the goalkeeper is alive to the danger and pounces on it.
Potentially difficult one to deal with but he claimed it well.
53' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
Ooh, close.
The ball broke for DR Congo's Noah Sadiki outside the box but a combination of two Nigeria defenders blocked it behind for a corner.
Akor Adams has replaced Victor Osimhen at half-time.
That is a huge blow for Nigeria but they still have enough attacking talent to get the job done.
46' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
Nigeria's talismanic striker Victor Osimhen has been taken off at the break.
On in his place is Akor Adams, who scored the opener against Gabon on Thursday.
Back into the action in Rabat.
No half-time substitutions for DR Congo, one for Nigeria…
There seems to be some movement out on the pitch.
The second half will be coming shortly.<\/p>\n

Akor Adams, Chidera Ejuke and Moses Simon have come out of the dressing room early to do a few warm-ups.
Could we see some half-time substitutions?
Big moment in that half was Wilfred Ndidi failing to control the ball from Ademola Lookman's cross.
Even if he scuffs the shot there is a good chance it goes in and Nigeria would have been 2-0 up.
Meschak Elia has been running the show for the DRC ever since.
Stanley Nwabali collects a chipped pass from Mbuku and that's the break!
Nigeria had the perfect start with a goal just three minutes in but were a little sloppy at other points and DR Congo probably just about deserved their equalising goal.
We will be all square going into the second half.
45+2' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
Three minutes added on at the end of the half and Meschak Elia once again sells the linesman by making more of a Calvin Bassey hand\/push than there really is.
Again, Nigeria deal with a DR Congo set piece just fine.
44' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
Calvin Bassey steps out of defence to mop up a loose ball and is caught, just, by Samuel Moutoussamy.
They have a brief exchange of words basically amounting to \u2018It wasn't a foul\u2019 and \u2018Yeah, it was\u2019.
The referee agrees with Bassey. Lookman tried to catch DR Congo cold, taking it quickly after bending down and chipping it towards Osimhen, but it was nodded away.
Interestingly, it looks like Elia and Mbuku have switched wings.
Maybe they want Elia to take advantage of auxiliary right-back Fredrick looking a bit shaky.
They just collided then and it looked like a foul but the referee told Elia to get up.
40' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
This first half has zipped by, which tells you everything about how engrossing today's contest has been.
Nearly at the break already.
Can either side find a goal to take them into half-time on a high?
Chukwueze, pictured, loses it and then fouls Masuaku. He doesn't agree with the decision.
That goal came down DR Congo's right side which I did warn you about!
Nigeria make one mistake and they have been punished. Bassey passes the ball to Iwobi on the halfway line but the Fulham midfielder is under a lot of pressure.
DRC win the ball and it is hooked over Bassey's head towards Bakambu. The forward crosses the ball and Ndidi touches it into Meschak Elia's path.
You should know by now that Nigeria never do things easily anyways!
35' Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo<\/strong>
Alex Iwobi, so good on Thursday, lost the ball uncharacteristically easily in midfield and from there Nigeria were in trouble.
Meschak Elia got to the ball first and cleverly lifted it down the right for Cedric Bakambu.
The veteran, 34, was being played onside by Fredrick and sprinted forward into space before being confronted by Semi Ajayi.
He flicked the ball past him and crossed it low looking for the run of Elia at the back post.
Wilfred Ndidi, tracking the run, didn't want to leave it but could only poke it slightly backwards and more comfortably into Elia's path.
The forward lashed it home with his left foot and the DR Congo fans erupted!<\/p>\n

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

International Football2026 WorldCup CountdownliveUpdated 55s agoNigeria lead DR Congo with both teams desperate to keep their World Cup hopes alive in Morocco today.Frank Onyeka's deflected shot (3') gave his side a fantastic start before Meschak Elia equalised from close range (32').Nigeria's talismanic striker Victor Osimhen was taken off for Akor Adams at half-time.The winner of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172083,"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-172082","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\/172082","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=172082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}