{"id":14137,"date":"2025-11-17T01:23:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T01:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T01:23:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T01:23:44","slug":"congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/","title":{"rendered":"Congo defeats Nigeria to advance to World Cup intercontinental play-offs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>RABAT, Morocco (AP) \u2014 Congo moves into first place. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">world cup<\/span> They defeated Nigeria in a penalty shootout on Sunday night to advance to the intercontinental play-offs. <\/p>\n<p>The final match of the African qualifying playoffs, held in Rabat, Morocco, ended 1-1 after extra time, with Prime Minister Mbemba scoring the decisive spot kick and Congo winning the shootout 4-3. <\/p>\n<p>Congo&#8217;s victory secures a spot in FIFA&#8217;s six-team intercontinental play-off tournament in March, with two teams qualifying for the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. <\/p>\n<p>Nigeria took the lead in the third minute with a goal from Frank Onyeka, before Mekaku Elia equalized for Congo in the 32nd minute.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria national team forward Victor Osimhen, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">top scorer<\/span> In the UEFA Champions League, he was substituted at half-time.<\/p>\n<p>Mbemba scored in stoppage time in Congo&#8217;s game against Cameroon on Thursday, sealing their place in the final. This time, he was the main character in the gunfight. <\/p>\n<p>Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia have already qualified for the World Cup from Africa.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nigeria-congo-africa-world-cup-qualifying-39c50a26269e075bf508b6fab4a55bfa\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RABAT, Morocco (AP) \u2014 Congo moves into first place. world cup They defeated Nigeria in a penalty shootout on Sunday night to advance to the intercontinental play-offs. The final match of the African qualifying playoffs, held in Rabat, Morocco, ended 1-1 after extra time, with Prime Minister Mbemba scoring the decisive spot kick and Congo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Congo defeats Nigeria to advance to World Cup intercontinental play-offs - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congo defeats Nigeria to advance to World Cup intercontinental play-offs - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RABAT, Morocco (AP) \u2014 Congo moves into first place. world cup They defeated Nigeria in a penalty shootout on Sunday night to advance to the intercontinental play-offs. The final match of the African qualifying playoffs, held in Rabat, Morocco, ended 1-1 after extra time, with Prime Minister Mbemba scoring the decisive spot kick and Congo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-17T01:23:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/\",\"name\":\"Congo defeats Nigeria to advance to World Cup intercontinental play-offs - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F302F932F99c60ece9116386c6d8dba31efed2Fa8c3d1b8e5e54f7197b792d76384c6bf.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-17T01:23:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F302F932F99c60ece9116386c6d8dba31efed2Fa8c3d1b8e5e54f7197b792d76384c6bf.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F302F932F99c60ece9116386c6d8dba31efed2Fa8c3d1b8e5e54f7197b792d76384c6bf.jpeg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":810},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/congo-defeats-nigeria-to-advance-to-world-cup-intercontinental-play-offs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Congo defeats Nigeria to advance to World Cup intercontinental play-offs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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