Wissa the wizard as DRC conjure up first trip to World Cup knockout stages
Yoane Wissa scored twice in Democratic Republic of Congo’s 3-1 win over Uzbekistan. The victory took his side into the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser – Erik S. Lesser)
DRC return from the brink
Fiston Mayele added DRC’s second in the 78th minute and Wissa scored his second of the game to seal DRC’s passage to the second phase 52 years after their debut appearance at the World Cup.
“What’s extraordinary is that this is a team that knows how to respond when we’re struggling,” said DRC head coach Sébastien Desabre.
The 49-year-old Frenchman added: “The players keep fighting no matter what twists and turns a match takes.
“Congratulations to them because they were fantastic. Of course, my staff too – we’re really proud and we’re happy for all Congolese people.”
DRC opened the campaign with a 0-0 draw against Portugal on 17 June. Colombia beat them 3-1 six days later.
‘Fear of winning’
But they redeemed themselves with the victory against a side that appeared to freeze when they held the advantage.
“The fear of winning crept in,” Cannavaro said. “We went into the dressing room at half time and when we came back out I told them that we needed to keep raising the tempo and keep our defensive line higher.
“I told them how to play and what to do, because DRC were pushing their wing-backs higher onto our full-backs, which meant there was a lot of space to attack behind them.
“Instead, we kept coming short to receive the ball with our backs to goal, and in matches like this, 99 times out of 100 you lose the ball that way.”
DRC will stay in Atlanta to face Group L winner England on Wednesday.
Congo rallies to a 3-1 win against Uzbekistan to seal place in the World Cup knockouts
“I hope this tournament will give us big experience. I hope this experience will give us more motivation for the future,” said coach Fabio Cannavaro.
Congo, Algeria become 8th and 9th African teams to make the World Cup round of 32
And now Algeria is into the knockout stage at the World Cup which means 9 of the 10 African teams at the World Cup 2026 have made it to that stage. It is beyond believable, but it is the reality and very good news for young folks in our countries because now they know the world is at their door.
9 out of 32 national teams in the knockout stage means African national teams are one third of the teams at the World Cup at that critical stage. That is magnificent for the continent and for our African young ones who want to be footballers at any level. They know they ca make it at every level. Just great.
Algeria and Austria qualify for World Cup 2026 knockout stage after thrilling late goals: Live updates and reaction
Sasa Kalajdzic’s goal deep into stoppage time miraculously rescued Austria’s World Cup, eliminating Iran in the process.
Sasa Kalajdzic’s goal deep into stoppage time rescued Austria’s World Cup Getty Images
Result: Algeria 3-3 Austria
A thrilling draw has seen both Algeria and Austria qualify for the knockout stage at the 2026 World Cup.
A loss for either team would have seen them eliminated in favour of Iran progressing to the round of 32, but instead both are through and Iran are out.
A draw seemed certain as both teams sat back in the final minutes with the score level at 2-2, until Riyad Mahrez scored his second goal of the night to give Algeria their first lead in the third minute of stoppage time. But Sasa Kalajdzic scored three minutes later to dramatically rescue Austria’s World Cup campaign.
Austria will face Spain in the round of 32 on Thursday, while Algeria will take on Switzerland in Vancouver later that day.
A World Cup record
Feast your eyes on the absurd amount of passes Algeria completed before what sure appeared to be Riyad Mahrez’s stoppage-time winner.
