Shameful outing, shameful performance.

Lille center-back, Chancel Mbemba, powered in the lone goal at the first minute of additional time after heading in from close range to beat a helpless Andre Onana.

Before the last-minute goal, the Leopards had missed several other goal-scoring opportunities especially in the second segment. 

Spartak Moscow star, Theo Bongonda, and substitute Fiston Mayele of Pyramids Football Club, jointly led the operations as the Congolese went haywire against the Indomitable Lions’, whose midfield looked visibly overpowered resultantly exposing an equally overweighed defense.

In the other end of actions, forward starters, Bryan Mbeumo and Karl Etta Eyong, and substitutes Vincent Aboubakar and Christian Bassogog, all had goal-scoring opportunities across the two segments. But the quartet failed to concretize any of the opportunities. 

Cameroon entered the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, seeking to extend its record as the African nation with the highest number of participations in the competition from the current eight to nine.

The team, however, faced a major stumbling on the mission when it missed out on an automatic qualification ticket after finishing the group phase series sitting second in Group D behind pool winners, Cabo Verde.

Despite the disappointing run in the group phase series where all the nine group winners directly qualified for the 2026 Mundial, the Indomitable Lions were handed a lifeline when they entered the African zonal playoff series as one of the four best second-placed teams at the close of the group stage campaign. 

The five-time African champions travelled to Morocco hoping to emerge champions and secure the lone qualification ticket to the six-nation inter-confederation qualifying series which will take place in March next year with the last of the 48 qualification tickets to the 2026 Mundial up for grabs.

The Leopards of Congo who are seeking to return to the World Cup finals for the first time since they debuted in 1974, will face Nigeria on Sunday in the final of the African playoff.

The Super Eagles qualified after scoring three goals in extra time yesterday to spank the Panthers of Gabon in the first semifinal game of the three-match African playoff.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico. The tournament will be the first edition of the expanded 48-nation version of the global showpiece since the transition from the 32-nation series.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3624 of Friday November 14, 2025