The scoreboard said England 2, DR Congo 1. But for the Congolese players sprawled on the grass at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Tuesday night, that was only half the story.
They were three minutes from history. One-nil up against England in the World Cup round of 32. Their goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi had turned into a wall, stopping everything England threw at him. Harry Kane equalized in the 83rd minute, then buried the winner three minutes later. Just like that, the upset of the tournament vanished.
What happened next was something you don’t see every day at a World Cup.
Instead of trudging off the field in silence, the entire DR Congo squad stayed on the pitch. They formed a circle near midfield. Arms draped over shoulders. Heads down. A private moment in front of 71,000 people.
Forward Cédric Bakambu stepped into the middle of the huddle. Video from Fox Sports showed him speaking to his teammates and coaches, delivering what looked like a few words of encouragement after a brutal gut punch. The team stood there together for a solid minute.
Then they walked over to the corner of the stadium where their fans had been chanting all night and clapped. The supporters clapped back. No one was in a hurry to leave.
A 52-year wait and a debut that meant something
DR Congo had not played in a World Cup since 1974. Back then they were called Zaire. They became the first sub-Saharan African country to qualify for the tournament, but they lost all three group games. One of those matches is still famous for the wrong reasons: Mwepu Ilunga booting a Brazilian free kick away before the whistle blew.
Fifty-two years later, this team qualified through the FIFA playoff tournament. They went 1-2 in Group K — a 1-1 draw with Portugal, a 1-0 loss to Colombia, and a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan that punched their ticket to the knockout stage. Not many people expected them to get that far.
A moment that sticks
The emotional scene after the England game was a reminder that this team already won something bigger than a match. They gave their country its first World Cup win in half a century. They showed up against one of the tournament favorites and led for 80 minutes.
Bakambu won’t forget that circle. Neither will the fans. And neither should anyone else who watched it.
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