CHICKENPIE.DR Congo did not qualify for the World Cup in 1974. They played. They did not win. They were never back. In the half-century since, the Leopards of Central Africa — a country of a hundred and ten million people, eleven official languages, more land than any nation west of the Rift Valley — became a tournament side who never got to the tournament. They watched from outside. They watched from afar. On Saturday afternoon, at the end of a match that did not always feel like it was going their way, they did something they have never done before. They won a World Cup match.
Yoane Wissa opened the scoring inside the quarter-hour. The Brentford forward — a Premier League striker whose previous World Cup memory was a 2018 qualifier he played as a teenager in a kit that has since been replaced three times — ran onto a long ball out of midfield, dropped a shoulder past the Uzbekistan centre-back, and finished low past the goalkeeper. The opener was clean. The opener was a striker's goal. The opener was a player scoring the way he scores in the Premier League every week, only on a stage he had never stood on before.
Uzbekistan equalised in the second half. The White Wolves — a Central Asian side whose best player, Eldor Shomurodov, plays in Italy and whose squad features six of the best talents in the region — pressed. They forced a mistake. They scored. The stadium — packed with Leopards fans who had driven across the country and flown across oceans to be here — went quiet. For twenty minutes, it felt like the script DR Congo had been handed was the same one they had always been handed. Beautiful, brave, and not quite enough.
Wissa the wizard. Two goals. A piece of history. — RFI match report, 84th minute.
Then the seventy-first minute arrived. A penalty was given. Wissa took it. Wissa scored it. The same goalkeeper he had beaten in the first half, beaten again, this time from twelve yards, into the same corner, with the same shoulder drop on his run-up. Two-one, DR Congo. The sky-blue end of the stadium, which had been holding its breath since the equaliser, exhaled. Then the eighty-fourth minute arrived. Wissa ran onto a pass into the box, curled a low shot past the Uzbekistan goalkeeper, and buried the ball in the side netting. Three-one. Game over. The Leopards had their first World Cup win. Wissa had his hat-trick of assist, goal, and a winning strike that will live on the highlight reel for the rest of the tournament.
The prize for the win is the round of 32 — and it is the round of 32 against England. Thomas Tuchel's side, fresh from topping their group, travel to a neutral-venue stadium in North America for a knockout round they have not lost in the opening minutes of a major tournament since 2014. Tuchel has Jude Bellingham. Tuchel has Bukayo Saka. Tuchel has Harry Kane. Wissa, who plays in the same league as half of them, will line up against them on Tuesday. The Brentford forward will not be overawed. He has just scored twice in a World Cup. He has just written the first chapter of DR Congo's history at this tournament with his own name on the front. England are next. The Leopards are not afraid.
Uzbekistan go home. They were the best team in their federation, the best team in their confederation for the better part of a decade, and they came to a World Cup and played well. They were beaten by a striker who was simply too good. That is football. That is the World Cup. The country that never had a win finally has one. The country that never had a star finally has one. The country that never had a knockout game finally has one. England, on Tuesday, on a neutral pitch, in front of a stadium full of supporters from both countries. The Leopards of Central Africa are ready. The smallest flag in the tournament just booked its place against the loudest. Again.
Daily Art Caricature by Chickenpie — World Cup 2026.
