DR Congo coach Claude Leroy’s Simba’s have thoroughly beaten Togo’s Sparrowhawks 2-0 in a thrilling end-to-end encounter in the African Cup of Nations in Egypt, in a match that could easily have ended 5-3.

The Democratic Republic of Congo came out of the traps very quickly, with DRC captain, and Portsmouth FC striker Lomano Lua Lua missing a perfect opportunity to open the scoring in the 12th minute, with a free header while the Togo keeper was flailing on the ground after missing the ball.

Togo immediately spread the ball to the other end of the pitch, and had an even better chance spurned when Abdelkader Cougbadja somehow missed a gaping goalmouth, opting to place the ball rather than going for power.

But the Democratic Republic of Congo were the more attacking side throughout the first quarter of the game, but often hurrying the passing too frequently, and with the finishing just not good enough. Tresor Mputo Mabi had a screaming shot that went just wide in the 20th minute, with another shot ballooning over the Togo goal minutes later.

Cougbadja spurned another chance for the Sparrowhawks, after a lovely break, which deceived the Congo defence, but yet again was off target.

Within the first half-hour the score could have easily been 3-2 to the DRC, such were the chances every time each side went forward.

The DR Congo took their foot off the pedal a little after that, which let the World Cup debutants to get their teeth into the match for the first time.

As half-time approached Togo came close when Cherif Toure Mamam had a shot from a free kick go just wide, failing to dip in time.

The DR Congo captain Lua Lua also came close, with a shot that went over the bar, and “Biscotte” Mbuta coming closest of all when Lua Lua played a beauty of a ball through to him, and his shot went past the keeper, rebounded off the post and away.

Tresor Mputo Mabi eventually broke the deadlock in the 44th minute, with the DR Congo deservedly taking the lead after a beautiful break, and a superb chip over the Togo keeper Kossi Agassa to make it 1-0 to the less fancied team, much to the delight of the travelling Congo fans.

The second half saw the DR Congo almost double their lead within the first minute, with the ball being scrambled away and smothered by the Togo keeper Agassa, and the Congolese commanding the flow of play, and denying Togo any decent time on the ball.

This led to the quietest period of the match, with the exertions of the first 60 minutes showing a slowing down in the pace of the match, and with some lazy tackles flying in

Adekambi Olufade almost got behind the keeper for Togo, but the ball just ran out of play, with DRC keeper Kalemba out of his goal.

Arsenal’s new Togolese signing, striker Sheyi Adebayor, who was on the original team-sheet, played no part in the first part of the match, due to a stomach complaint, but by the 60th minute, had recovered enough to come on as a substitute for Olufade, and the African Zone’s top striker immediately looked to bring the scores level.

The Simba’s goalscorer, Tresor Mputo Mabi was substituted for a defender just after Adebayor came on, to shore up the DRC defence, and he did an excellent job in quelling the threat from the Arsenal striker.

It was the DRC captain, Lomano Lua Lua who was always the biggest threat, and after some strong play, and holding the ball in the penalty area, the Portsmouth striker turned and scored a lovely strike which crept under the body of Agassa to make it 2-0.

Junior Yao Senaya had a free-kick sting the hands of DRC keeper Kalemba, which went out for a corner, but yet again the resulting corner-kick was stamped out by the DRC and immediately the DRC went up the pitch on a break that almost saw them extend the lead to 3-0, such was their devastating pace.

The speed on the break from the DRC, and especially from the trick-filled Lua Lua, was constantly undoing the Togo defence, and the frustration was beginning to show with some rash tackles coming in from the tired Togo players.

!5 minutes from time, and things were not looking good for the Sparrowhawks, and even though Senaya, and the under-form Adebayor had minor chances, they did little to capitalise, and never truly worried the DRC keeper Kolemba, or the Simba’s defence as a whole.

The DR Congo played magnificently throughout the match, with some stylish attacking play, and will now be considered one of the major threats in this tournament after this fine display.

This is the first shock of the African Cup of Nations, and there are likely to be many more in the 32 matches of the tournament, but Stephen Keshi will have to pull his team up from a very unconvincing display.

This now means that Stephen Keshi’s team will have to get something from their next match, against Cameroon, to avoid an early, and possibly embarrassing exit from the African Cup of Nations.