Bukasa’s DR Congo U23 Turn a 1-0 Deficit into a Place in the Next Round

LUBUMBASHI, DR Congo — DR Congo under-23s beat Mauritania 2-0 on Tuesday to overturn a first-leg defeat and go through in the U23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on a 2-1 aggregate.

Guy Bukasa’s side had lost 1-0 in Nouakchott on 28 September. The only goal came in the last moments of a match that had been goalless at half-time, leaving the Leopards needing a win in the return at the TP Mazembe stadium in Lubumbashi.

They got it. A 2-0 home win wipes out the away goal and sends DR Congo into the next stage of the road to Egypt 2027. Mauritania, who had taken the option in front of their own crowd, leave with the first-leg lead gone and the tie lost by a single goal.

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Bukasa had named a 30-man squad for the double header and taken the group to a training camp in Morocco. The list mixed domestic players from TP Mazembe, FC Lupopo and Don Bosco with prospects at Union Saint-Gilloise, Clermont, LASK and Caen. The return was the test of whether that group could recover a one-goal deficit in 90 minutes. It could.

The first leg had been tight. DR Congo had more of the ball in Nouakchott and still conceded the goal that forced this recovery. Tuesday was the correction: two goals, a clean sheet, and a tie that had looked lost a week ago.

Egypt will host the U23 AFCON in 2027. DR Congo are still in it. Mauritania are not. Bukasa’s side have a round to prepare for, and a result in Lubumbashi that makes the late goal in Nouakchott a footnote.