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DR Congo and Ivory Coast top Africa Cup of Nations qualifying opening wins

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Reuters. (2026, September 24). DR Congo and Ivory Coast top Africa Cup of Nations qualifying opening wins. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/9/24/dr-congo-and-ivory-coast-top-africa-cup-of-nations-qualifying-opening-wins?traffic_source=rss

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Al Jazeera · collected 2026-09-24 · by Reuters

Quick Summary

DR Congo secured a 2-0 victory over Equatorial Guinea on Thursday in the opening round of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, scoring through Chancel Mbemba and Yoane Wissa at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa. Despite limited attendance due to past fan violence incidents, this match came shortly after DR Congo’s successful World Cup campaign where they nearly upset England. Other matches saw Mauritania defeat the Central African Republic 3-1, Namibia edge out Congo with a single goal from Bethuel Muzeu, and Ivory Coast beat Ghana 2-0 in a Group C clash, with goals from Malick Yalcouye and Franck Kessie.
Written by AI on 2026-09-24, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On the opening day of the group qualifiers for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, the Democratic Republic of Congo secured a 2-0 victory over Equatorial Guinea. The match took place in Kinshasa at Stade des Martyrs on Thursday. Despite the win, only 20,000 spectators were allowed to attend due to crowd restrictions imposed as punishment for fan violence following a previous defeat by Senegal during World Cup qualification. Captain Chancel Mbemba scored the first goal in the fourth minute, and Yoane Wissa added a second 18 minutes before full time. Mauritania and Namibia also won their matches on Thursday, while Libya managed to draw 2-2 with Botswana behind closed doors in Tripoli because of stadium bans for supporter misconduct.

Written for “Africa Cup Of Nations Qualifying Matches” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Africa Cup Of Nations Qualifying Matches
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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Claims extracted
14
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
7%
1 of 14 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
60/100
Al Jazeera's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
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Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Al Jazeera · 4452 article(s) · 2 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 2 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Reuters
779 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Topics

Botswana Ghana Mauritania Namibia World Cup

Subjects

Botswana GPE · 3× Ghana GPE · 3× Mauritania GPE · 2× Namibia GPE · 2× Chancel Mbemba PERSON · 1× Congolese NORP · 1× Equatorial Guinea GPE · 1× Kinshasa PERSON · 1× The Democratic Republic of the Congo GPE · 1× Yoane Wissa PERSON · 1×

Narrative

However, there was no opportunity for home supporters to celebrate their achievement as the size of the crowd at the Stade des Martyrs was restricted to 20,000 after sanctions for fan violence that followed defeat by Senegal in World Cup qualification one year ago.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-24
🔮 Captain Chancel Mbemba headed home the opening goal in the fourth minute, and Yoane Wissa added a second 18 minutes from time in Kinshasa on Thursday, although the scoreline might have been more emphatic after they twice struck the woodwork and also had two efforts ruled offside.

Claims (14 extracted, 1 hedged)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo followed up their World Cup exploits with a 2-0 home win over Equatorial Guinea on the opening day of the group qualifiers for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations. asserted
Republic → follow → Nations
Captain Chancel Mbemba headed home the opening goal in the fourth minute, and Yoane Wissa added a second 18 minutes from time in Kinshasa on Thursday, although the scoreline might have been more emphatic after they twice struck the woodwork and also had two efforts ruled offside. uncertain
efforts → head → woodwork
It was the first game for the Congolese after advancing through the first phase of the World Cup for the first time and running England close in their last-32 tie in Atlanta in July. asserted
It → advance → July
However, there was no opportunity for home supporters to celebrate their achievement as the size of the crowd at the Stade des Martyrs was restricted to 20,000 after sanctions for fan violence that followed defeat by Senegal in World Cup qualification one year ago. asserted
that → be → qualification
Mauritania and Namibia were also winners in Thursday’s early games, while Libya netted a last-gasp penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Botswana behind closed doors in Tripoli, where the stadium was also banned because of previous supporter violence. asserted
stadium → net → violence
Botswana striker Tumisang Orebonye scored a double in the first half to put his side on course for a rare away win before Maruwan Alhibeeshi thrashed home from the edge of the area to pull one back in the 87th minute. asserted
Alhibeeshi → score → minute
Botswana substitute Mothusi Cooper gave away a stoppage-time penalty with a clumsy challenge, allowing Ezoo El Mariamy to rescue a draw. asserted
Mariamy → give → draw
Mauritania won 3-1 over the Central African Republic in Casablanca, Morocco, which included a superb chipped effort over the goalkeeper from Dawda Camara, while Bethuel Muzeu scored the only goal as Namibia edged Congo. asserted
Namibia → win → Congo
Ivory Coast beat Ghana 2-0 in a derby in Bouake in a Group C encounter. asserted
Coast → beat → encounter
A stunning strike from Malick Yalcouye opened the scoring from outside the box in the first half, although the Ghana keeper, Lawrence Ati-Zigi, will feel he should have done better at his near post. asserted
he → open → post
Franck Kessie gave the Black Stars stopper no chance as he sent his opponent the wrong way with a side-footed second-half penalty. asserted
he → give → penalty
Ghana, who failed to qualify for the 2025 edition of AFCON, are left to reflect on a match where they failed to register a shot on target until the 75th minute. asserted
they → fail → minute
They also conceded 61 percent of possession to their hosts. asserted
They → concede → hosts
Cameroon beat Comoros 3-1, while Tunisia were held to a 1-1 draw by Uganda in the pick of the other ties. asserted
Tunisia → beat → ties
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