Colombia officially booked their ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 32 with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over a stubborn DR Congo side at the Guadalajara Stadium on June 23. Néstor Lorenzo’s men maintained their perfect record to move to the summit of Group K with six points after a first match win against Uzbekistan. But the South Americans had to dig remarkably deep to breach a heroic Congolese defensive line.
Colombia came out at blistering intensity, putting the African low block to the test right away. Daniel Muñoz, the right-back, was making his intentions clear from early, hitting the outside of the post from close range after Jhon Arias’ first effort was parried away. Just minutes later and Muñoz rolled the ball over the line from a Johan Mojica cross but his celebrations were curtailed by a quick VAR offside call.
Colombia dominated possession and had the shots at the opposition but the only reason the game was still in the balance was due to the heroics of DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi. In the first half Mpasi made a number of good saves, denying a spectacular shot from Luis Díaz and stopping long-range missiles from midfield general James Rodríguez and Gustavo Puerta.
The story continued in the second half. Mpasi denied Luis Díaz again with a stellar stop with his left leg, but Arias inexplicably sent the rebound off target. Eventually Lorenzo did shake up his attack, bringing on James Rodríguez for Juan Fernando Quintero to inject fresh ingenuity into the midfield.
The tactical change bore fruit in the 76th minute. Quintero played a telling ball through for Jhon Córdoba, who cleverly dummy-rolled it into the path of the overlapping Muñoz. The Crystal Palace defender hammered a low effort that took a wicked deflection off Steve Kapuadi to send Mpasi the wrong way into the bottom corner to break the deadlock.
In a last-ditch bid to keep their World Cup dreams alive, DR Congo hurled bodies forward. They came within a whisker of grabbing a point in the 91st minute when Nathanaël Mbuku let fly with a venomous long-range strike that forced Colombian goalkeeper Camilo Vargas into a spectacular full-stretch fingertip save. Moments later Chancel Mbemba dragged a golden chance wide from close range. Colombia rode out a late storm to seal a knockout berth, while DR Congo need a big win over Uzbekistan to keep alive their own hopes of making the knockouts.
Debayan Bhattacharyya is a seasoned sports journalist and digital media professional, currently serving as the Chief Sub Editor at ITV Digital (NewsX). A true Football-Fanatic Bong, his professional journey began at Zee Media, where he kicked off his career as a Sub-Editor for the sports team at India.com and CricketCountry. His ability to blend insightful analysis with rapid-fire news delivery soon led him to Times Network, where he served as a Senior Copy Editor for Times Now. Before his current role at NewsX, Debayan spent a significant tenure at OneIndia’s MyKhel as a Senior Sub Editor.
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