DRC makes Afcon semis
ABIDJAN - The Democratic Republic of Congo came from a goal behind to beat Guinea 3-1 in their Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal at the Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium on Friday and join Nigeria in the last four.
Chancel Mbemba, Yoane Wissa and Arthur Masuaku scored the goals as the Congolese recovered from conceding an early penalty to secure victory and a semi-final berth for the first time since 2015.
Mbemba had given away a penalty when he shoved Mohamed Bayo in the box to allow the Guinea striker to score after 20 minutes but the Congolese captain made up for his error seven minutes later with an excellent left footed finish.
DR Congo then had a penalty of their own in the 65th minute which Wissa tucked away and Masuaku completed the victory by scoring directly from a free kick near the touchline eight minutes from time.
Masuaku’s brilliant effort put the cherry on top of a convincing effort which came after four successive draws at the tournament in the Ivory Coast for the Congolese.
They drew all three group games but still finished second behind Morocco in Group F and then after a 1-1 stalemate with Egypt, won on post-match penalties in the last 16 at the weekend.
DR Congo, who won the last of two Cup of Nations titles in 1974 when they were still known as Zaire, now take on either hosts Ivory Coast or Mali in the semi-final in Abidjan on Wednesday.
Nigeria beat Angola 1-0 in the first quarter-final earlier on Friday and take on either the Cape Verde Islands or South Africa in their semi-final.