Aaron Wan-Bissaka's DR Congo booked their spot in the World Cup Inter-Confederation play-offs last night - before being accused by one of their opponents of using black magic to beat Nigeria.
Congo secured their spot in the pre-finals test courtesy of a 4-3 penalty shootout win against the Super Eagles, after their World Cup qualifier had finished 1-1 in regulation time.Frank Onyeka’s deflected strike had given Nigeria an early lead, before Meschack Elia levelled matters shortly before half-time - a goal that sent the tie into an eventual shootout.
However the Congolese, who won the tie courtesy of Lille centre half Chancel Mbemba's spot kick had barely began their celebrations before Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle accused opposition players of practising 'voodoo' during their penalty shootout victory on Sunday in order to secure victory.
As the winning kick hit the back of the net, Chelle confronted the Congolese bench whom he accused of employing voodoo - or dark arts - to influence the result of the penalty shootout.
And the coach, pictured above during last night's game, was still insistent that "juju" had been used when asked to explain his outburst by a TV reporter some moments later. "During all of the penalties, the players of Congo were doing some voodoo," he continued to claim.
Chelle's bizarre outburst was however of little concern to Wan-Bissaka and his team mates, who are now just one step away from their first appearance in the World Cup Finals since 1974.
DR Congo will now face one further play-off in Mexico next March, with the winners guaranteed a spot in next summer's Finals. They will discover their next opponents when the draw is made this Thursday (20 November).
*For their sole previous appearance in the Finals, in Germany 51 years ago, The Leopards competed under their former name, Zaire - and produced one of the most iconic moments in World Cup Finals history during a group match with Brazil which you can see above...
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