The England team was on the verge of a historic elimination, but its captain, Harry Kane, appeared to sign an agonizing 2-1 comeback against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and qualify for the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, where they will face the host Mexico.
The team led by Thomas Tuchel suffered for much of the match played at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Africans surprised from the start with a goal from Brian Cipenga in the 7th minute and maintained the advantage thanks to an outstanding performance by goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi.
England, which had already seen powerhouses like Germany and the Netherlands fall in this World Cup, was close to starring in another failure, but reacted in the final stretch with the entry of Anthony Gordon, recent signing from Barcelona, who assisted on Kane’s two goals.
The Bayern Munich striker tied the match in the 75th minute with an accurate header and, when the game seemed headed for overtime, he appeared again in the 86th minute to complete a great individual action and seal the comeback.
With this double, Kane reached five goals in the tournament and was only one of the leaders in the scoring table, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé.
“It feels incredible, to be honest. What a crazy game. Whoever it is, there are always heroes in this team,” Kane declared after the match, highlighting England’s ability to react in one of the most complicated matches of their campaign.
For his part, Thomas Tuchel praised the character of his scorer and the collective response after an adverse start.
“Harry keeps getting better and better,” said the German coach. “We had the worst possible start. First shot, first goal and the game became complicated. But after the first hydration break we improved, we dominated the game and we never stopped believing.”
The strategist acknowledged that his team once again showed defensive problems, especially on the right sector, affected by the absences of Reece James and Tino Livramento, although he highlighted the personality shown to reverse the score.
Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was playing its first World Cup in 52 years since its participation as Zaire in 1974, was very close to completing one of the biggest surprises of the tournament. He even touched on the second goal before the break with a shot against the post by Yoane Wissa and had multiple saving interventions from Mpasi.
However, the English push ended up prevailing in the final stretch and avoided an elimination that would have caused a huge crisis in the European team.
Now, England will face Mexico next Sunday at the Azteca stadium, where they will seek to keep alive the dream of winning their first major international title since the 1966 World Cup.
