DR Congo get a massive boost ahead of Nigeria clash

It’s not the final, the potential winner is not guaranteed a World Cup place but the match between Nigeria and DR Congo is still huge. In a somewhat strange playoff system, the winner in today’s game will be Africa’s representative in the Intercontinental Playoffs — scheduled to be held in the Mexican cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey in March with Bolivia and New Caledonia, Iraq, Jamaica and Panama. On one side is African giant Nigeria and on the other a team which beat all the odds – DR Congo. While the Super Eagles went to six World Cups before, the Leopards were participants only once (in 1974) but as Zaire, which means that this could be their first World Cup ever. And they just got a massive boost ahead of this game.

FIFA approved the international switches of three Europe based players: Michel-Ange Balikwisha (Celtic), Mario Stroeykens (Anderlecht) and Matthieu Epolo (Standard Liege goalkeeper). They all represented Belgium at youth level but are cleared now to participate as Leopards. In fact, Balikwisha and Epolo were already added to the squad that defeated Cameroon 1-0 on Thursday, while Stroeykens was ruled out only due to late notification from FIFA. Will those three players will be enough to beat the mighty Nigeria remains to be seen, but DR Congo stunned one favorite already (Cameroon) and proved to be a very resilient team.

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Nigeria, who were on a brink of disaster just months ago have managed to recoup with new coach (Eric Sekou Chelle) and thanks to a fourth goal against Benin managed to sneak into the playoffs. They secured their final after an overtime win against Gabon and will again rely on Victor Osimhen. After his two extra-time goals against Gabon, Galatasaray striker now has 31 international goals, just six short of Rashidi Yekini's record. That’s 31 goals scored against 12 different countries: Ukraine, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Gabon. He is yet to score against DR Congo but that’s just because these two teams only met in friendly matches so far.

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But just as DR Congo received a boost today, so did Nigeria. FIFA allowed Leopards to add three new players, while CAF officially cleared Wilfred Ndidi to play today. Ndidi received sixth minute yellow card in Thursday's 4-1 win over Gabon in the semifinal — believed at first to be his second caution of the qualifiers after earlier yellow in 2024. Under that assumption, Nigeria's technical staff ruled him out of the final. But CAF cleared that accrued yellow cards from the World Cup qualifying group stage do not carry over into the playoff tournament which means he is cleared to play. Experienced defender Semi Ajayi is also back and could be in the starting eleven for today’s game after serving out a one-match ban.