Ethiopia vs DR Congo

Ethiopia will host Congo DR in the second round of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifications on Monday night at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium.

In their first match against Tanzania, Ethiopia had to settle for a sharing of the spoils, while Congo DR narrowly avoided the threat posed by Guinea to get off to a winning start.

At Stade des Martrys in Kinshasa on Friday, Congo DR shown incredible fortitude to defeat the National Elephants of Guinea 1-0 in a hard-fought match and earn all three points.

Edo Kayembe, who has scored three goals in four league games this season, took his scoring hot streak to the international arena by scoring the game-winning goal in the 27th minute to secure the victory for Sebastien Desabre's team.

Les Leopards have won their last three encounters since their AFCON elimination to South Africa earlier this year, and they will enter Monday's match on a run of two wins in a row without giving up.

Before October's doubleheader against Tanzania, a win in Dar es Salaam would put Congo DR in command of Group H. However, their away record has been poor lately, with only one victory on enemy soil dating back to June 2023.

Ethiopia failed to score a goal in their goalless draw with Tanzania on Wednesday, highlighting their offensive shortcomings for the fifth time in their previous eight games.

More concerningly for Gebremedhin Haile's team, despite having the greater percentage of ball possession in a dull match, they were unable to muster an effort on goal for the whole ninety minutes.

The Walia Ibex did, however, manage to escape with an unusual victory, having only one clean sheet in their previous five games in all competitions. This was their second clean sheet in three games.

Ethiopia will be eager to get their qualification campaign off at the second opportunity after missing out on the previous AFCON edition in order to prevent falling too far behind in the quest for a spot at the continental showcase.

The opposition team, who advanced to the finals of the 1968 Africa Cup of Nations, is the obstacle in their way. They won 3-2 in extra time in their only prior meeting.