{"id":262122,"date":"2025-11-14T09:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T09:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/262122\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T09:18:08","slug":"michel-ange-balikwisha-one-step-closer-to-world-cup-dream-but-made-to-wait-for-dr-congo-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/262122\/","title":{"rendered":"Michel Ange-Balikwisha one step closer to World Cup dream but made to wait for DR Congo debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Michel-Ange Balikwisha may not be enjoying much success at club level with Celtic right now, but he has a chance to be a part of history.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/news\/fifa-finally-make-decision-on-celtic-man-michel-ange-balikwishas-international-allegiance\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Balikwisha was called up to the DR Congo squad<\/a> for the first time after being granted permission to switch from his Belgian nationality.<\/p>\n<p>He was thrown straight into the lion\u2019s den with a 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/tag\/world-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Cup<\/a> play-off semi-final against Cameroon on Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>The winner of that tie would advance to the final to play Nigeria this Sunday for a place in the six-team intercontinental qualifier to determine the last two nations to qualify for the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2244606595-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Michel-Ange Balikwisha checks out the Hampden Park pitch before Celtic vs Rangers\" class=\"wp-image-336165\" \/>Photo by Ian MacNicol\/Getty ImagesDR Congo score last-minute winner against Cameroon<\/p>\n<p>DR Congo have been on the up of late and have recruited the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka to try and qualify for a first World Cup since 1974.<\/p>\n<p>They had the odds stacked against them, facing a Cameroon side with plenty of talent.<\/p>\n<p>However, as the clock ticked into second-half stoppage time, Chancel Mbemba rose the highest from a corner and headed home to send DR Congo to the play-off final.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">CONGO DR STUN CAMEROON IN STOPPAGE TIME AND ADVANCE TO THE FINAL \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde9 \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde9 \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde9 <\/p>\n<p>THEY WILL FACE NIGERIA FOR A SPOT IN THE INTER-CONFEDERATION PLAYOFFS ON SUNDAY \u2694\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QFtNQhLDiO\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/QFtNQhLDiO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ESPNFC\/status\/1989079889564299449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 13, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>View Tweet<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/tag\/michel-ange-balikwisha\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Balikwisha<\/a>, he was made to watch from the substitute\u2019s bench, but will be hoping to make his debut against Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>Michel-Ange Balikwisha set for Africa Cup of Nations bow<\/p>\n<p>It has been a long time coming for the 23-year-old to switch from Belgium to DR Congo, and his decision will now affect Celtic in the winter months.<\/p>\n<p>With the Africa Cup of Nations beginning in December, the Hoops are expected to lose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/tag\/sebastian-tounekti\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sebastian Tounekti<\/a> and potentially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/tag\/kelechi-iheanacho\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kelechi Iheanacho<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>By representing DR Congo, Balikwisha could also be called up for the tournament, which takes place between Sunday, 21 December 2025, to Sunday, 18 January 2026.<\/p>\n<p>This would mean missing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/tag\/glasgow-derby\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Glasgow derby<\/a> against Rangers, as well as weakening the number of wide options available in the side.<\/p>\n<p>  <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michel-Ange Balikwisha may not be enjoying much success at club level with Celtic right now, but he has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,13404,101,56,54,55,6526],"class_list":["post-262122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-michel-ange-balikwisha","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}