STEP aside Victor Osimhen because Premier League flop Chancel Mbemba still has a chance of reaching the World Cup next year.
The former Newcastle United defender captained his DR Congo side to a fourth win in a row to keep their hopes of getting to USA in 2026 alive.
They beat Nigeria on penalties in the Confederation of Africa final on Sunday night to send the Super Eagles crashing out of contention.
Nigeria, the reigning holders of the African Cup of Nations, took an early lead but could not capitalise.
Osimhen, who is set to defend his AFCON crown with his country in January, was taken off at half-time with his side level.
Brentford midfielder Frank Onyeka scored in the third minute via a deflection to set Nigeria up for victory but they were pegged back by Meschack Elia after half an hour.
Nothing could separate the sides in extra time as the match went to penalties.
Fulham’s Calvin Bassey missed for Nigeria with the first effort before Moses Simon saw his spot kick saved as well.
Samuel Moutoussamy stepped up for Congo only to be denied as well with the score brought back to 2-2 when Akor Adams – on for Osimhen – converted and former Manchester United ace Axel Tuanzebe missed.
Bruno Onyemaechi and Chidera Ejuke both scored for Nigeria but so did Fiston Mayele and Michel-Ange Balikwisha for Congo.
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Semi Ajeyi’s penalty was saved for Nigeria, giving Mbemba the chance to send Congo through to the six-team play-off in March.
He had already knocked out Manchester United attacker Bryan Mbeumo and Cameroon in a 1-0 win earlier in the week.
That was in the CAF qualifiers semi-final where Mbemba also scored.
It was the third straight win with the same score to keep Congo in the mix after they finished second in group B to Senegal.
Egypt, South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tunisia, and Ghana all went through automatically as group winners.
Congo and Mbemba’s heroics mean they will now play in an inter-confederation play-off against countries from Oceania, South America, Concacaf, and Asia to decide the last two World Cup spots.
The game came to a dramatic conclusion during penalties with Nigeria boss Eric Chelle claiming that the Congo bench were using voodoo.
His men had to settle for being left disappointed whilst Congo celebrate their success.
New Caladonia and Bolivia are already confirmed as being at the North America-based play-off with dates and venues yet to be confirmed for during the March international break.
United Arab Emirates face Iraq on Tuesday to decide who will go from Asia with the score at 1-1 after the first leg.
The two best runner-up from three groups of third round qualifying in Concacaf (the host confederation) will join them with that currently down as Jamaica and Panama.
Teams will then be seeded (and unseeded) with two pathways to the tournament decided on Thursday.
The top two Fifa ranked countries go to the final of their respective pathway with the others competing in single-leg semi-finals first.
Two finals will then be played and the winners head to the World Cup to complete the 48 teams.
Mbemba played 59 times for Newcastle after moving from Belgian outfit Anderlecht in 2015.
He was a regular in the team that went from the Premier League to the Championship and back again in three seasons.
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He made 42 top flight appearances before moving to Porto.
Mbemba, 31, joined Lille over the summer for free.
