{"id":393102,"date":"2025-11-20T21:23:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T21:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/393102\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T21:23:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T21:23:24","slug":"heres-dr-congos-potential-2026-world-cup-play-off-final-opponent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/393102\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s DR Congo\u2019s potential 2026 World Cup play-off final opponent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/SportsArchive\/Here-s-DR-Congo-s-potential-2026-World-Cup-play-off-final-opponent-2010340?gallery=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/65934952.295.jpg\" alt=\"DR Congo defeated Nigeria 4-3 on penalties in the Africa play-off final\" title=\"DR Congo defeated Nigeria 4-3 on penalties in the Africa play-off final\" width=\"295\" height=\"166\" \/> <\/a>DR Congo defeated Nigeria 4-3 on penalties in the Africa play-off final<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-123\">DR Congo now have a clear route to the 2026 World Cup after the intercontinental play-off draw in Zurich paired them with either Jamaica or New Caledonia in a single decisive match on March 31, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The Leopards advanced to this stage after a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Nigeria, a result that secured their place among the two seeded teams based on FIFA ranking.<\/p>\n<p>Their opponent will be determined when Jamaica face New Caledonia in a semi-final game.<\/p>\n<p>The winner of that tie will progress to meet DR Congo in Mexico, where the final play-off tournament will be held.<\/p>\n<p>The other seeded team, Iraq, will await the winner of the Bolivia versus Suriname semi-final.<\/p>\n<p>For DR Congo, the draw represents the final barrier to a long-awaited World Cup return. The nation last appeared at the tournament in 1974, competing under the name Zaire.<\/p>\n<p>Their recent triumph over Nigeria showcased their composure, with goalkeeper Timothy Fayulu saving two penalties to secure qualification for the play-off stage.<\/p>\n<p>The Leopards now stand one game away from history.<\/p>\n<p>With Mexico set to host the play-off finals, DR Congo will enter the decisive match knowing that victory guarantees a place at the expanded 48-team World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DR Congo defeated Nigeria 4-3 on penalties in the Africa play-off final DR Congo now have a clear&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":393103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-393102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115584133565228675","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}