Kane's late brace ends DR Congo's World Cup dream despite Mpasi's heroics

Harry Kane scored twice in the closing stages to send England into the round of 16 with a 2-1 win over DR Congo on Wednesday, his 86th-minute winner ending a remarkable rearguard effort from goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi that had threatened to produce one of the tournament’s biggest shocks.

Mpasi, 31, made five saves across the match — blocking shots with both hands and, at one point, appearing to stop a Kane effort somewhere around his midriff in first-half stoppage time. The moment prompted England midfielder Jude Bellingham to crouch down and embrace the sprawled keeper in a gesture of genuine admiration.

“I offered my body to science,” Mpasi said through a translator afterwards, managing a wry smile. “But we knew Harry Kane is a super striker and that we had to centre on him. Too bad that twice we paid a little less attention to him.”

Kane acknowledged the keeper’s influence on the game. “He made some incredible saves,” the England striker said. “It looked like it was going to be one of those days.”

The defeat ends DR Congo’s second-ever World Cup campaign, their only previous appearance coming in 1974 when the nation competed as Zaire — a tournament remembered largely for a 9-0 group-stage loss to Yugoslavia in which they failed to score a single goal. This time, there was nothing to be ashamed about.

Mpasi, who plays club football in France but represents the country of his parents’ birth internationally, had already impressed in the group stage, making eight saves in a 1-0 defeat to Colombia. Congo defender Axel Tuanzebe was quick to credit his goalkeeper’s contribution throughout the tournament.

“He’s been phenomenal for us all tournament, especially the game against Colombia. He really kept us in the game,” Tuanzebe said. “Credit to him, the work he puts in.”

For Mpasi, the result was painful but the pride unmistakable. “I’m just proud — proud of my country, proud of my team,” he said. “We fight until the end of the game.”

England advance to the round of 16, while DR Congo depart having demonstrated that their return to the World Cup stage — 51 years on from their first — was no mere footnote.