World Cup Story Feed / 世界杯事情流
World Cup Story Feed / 世界杯事情流
At the 68th minute, Atalanta's Yoane Wissa stood before the penalty spot. Four months ago, he was a bad debt awaiting amortization on Newcastle United's financial statements. The club scoured the world for a buyer, willing to take any loss. In St. James' Park's ledgers, he was a flop who couldn't even secure a spot on the bench. Now, that flop had beneath his feet the Democratic Republic of Congo's 52 year World Cup drought.
In the 68th minute, Atlanta, Yoane Wissa stood at the penalty spot. Four months ago, he was a bad debt awaiting amortization on Newcastle United's balance sheet. The club scoured the world for a buyer, willing to accept any loss. In the ledger of St. James' Park, he was a flop who couldn't even secure a spot on the bench. Now, this flop had beneath his feet the DR Congo's 52-year World Cup drought.
Newcastle paid an initial transfer fee of 50 million pounds for him, with a potential total of 55 million pounds including 5 million in add-ons. In return, they got 19 appearances and 1 goal in the 2025-26 Premier League season, plus a long-term knee injury absence. In April, the club publicly explored selling him, having already absorbed the book loss.
At the World Cup, those knees, long deemed broken in the Premier League, delivered 3 goals in 3 games. With a brace in this match, he became the fourth African player to score 3 goals in a single World Cup group stage, matching the record set by Senegal's Papa Bouba Diop in 2002. He surpassed his entire league goal tally for Newcastle in just three group games at the national level.
In July 2021, a woman broke into his home in Lorient, France, threw corrosive liquid in his face, and attempted to kidnap his daughter. Testifying in court this January, his words were unadorned: "I pushed the door open, and the liquid was thrown directly in my face. I screamed, unable to breathe." After emergency eye surgery, he returned to the pitch. In the first minute of added time, with a low shot from outside the box, he knocked Uzbekistan out of the tournament.
Just 24 seconds into the match, Uzbekistan scored a goal, but it was disallowed by VAR. In the 10th minute, Shomurodov chipped in a goal. DR Congo's defense looked dead.
But over the next 58 minutes, DR Congo pinned Uzbekistan in their half. They racked up 19 shots, with an xG of 2.35. Cannavaro's team was constantly under siege; only the scoreboard refused to change until Wissa's penalty in the 68th minute.
Mayele scored the go-ahead goal from a scramble in the 78th minute, and Wissa added another in stoppage time. 3-1. The stats told a crueler story: DR Congo had 58% possession, 19 shots to 4, and an expected goals of 2.35 to 0.28. Uzbekistan had only one shot on target all match, which led to their single goal. Their World Cup debut became a quick lesson in elimination.
At the final whistle, the broadcast cut to the Uzbekistan bench. Fabio Cannavaro sat there. In 2006, he lifted the World Cup and won the Ballon d'Or. Now, his World Cup debutants finished with three losses, zero points, and last place. In October 2025, less than nine months before the World Cup, the Uzbekistan Football Association parachuted him in to replace Karpaz, the coach who had actually led the team to the World Cup. Karpaz was initially retained as an assistant coach but left over a month later.
In the post-match press conference, a reporter pressed Cannavaro: Why were you smiling after the 5-0 loss to Portugal, and why are you still smiling after today's 3-1 loss? Facing a report card of zero points, the World Cup champion replied, "The World Cup is cruel."
On the other side of the pitch was the Frenchman Sébastien Desabre. Taking over the team in August 2022, starting from the CAF qualifying group stage, it took him nearly four years to reach the intercontinental playoff final, where they beat Jamaica in extra time. Desabre toiled for nearly four years through the qualifiers; Cannavaro parachuted in for 9 months and got zero points. Football doesn't look at resumes.
In 1974, this country, then called Zaire, went to Germany for its first World Cup. They lost 0-2 to Scotland, 0-9 to Yugoslavia, and 0-3 to Brazil. They conceded 14 goals in three games and scored 0.
Fifty-two years later, DR Congo scored 4 goals in the group stage, with 1 win, 1 draw, and 1 loss, earning 4 points and advancing as the third-placed team.
After the match in Kinshasa, thousands flooded the streets late into the night, fireworks and car horns mingling. Eastern DR Congo remains engulfed in civil war. Wissa mentioned this in the mixed zone: "Our country is not easy; there is war in the east. Every time I put on this jersey, I think of them."
He paused. "We came from nothing to get here. Now, we write our own story with a black pen."
The iconic fan known as 'Lumumba Wia', famous for imitating independence hero Lumumba, couldn't see this from the stands in Atlanta because he was denied a US visa.
And Wissa and DR Congo's next opponent is England.