End of the road for FCA call-ups at the Africa Cup of Nations
Essende an unused substitute
First Team
06.01.2026, 21:00
For all the FCA stars who were called up to represent their international sides at the Africa Cup of Nations, the journey has now come to an end. Samuel Essende was the final Augsburg player to be knocked out of the competition on Tuesday night.
DR Congo were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Algeria after 120 minutes of play. In an evenly-matched encounter, Adil Boulbina finally found enough to make the difference in the 119th minute. Essende was an unused substitute in the affair, while Nathanaël Mbuku (currently out on loan at HSC Montpellier) was brought off the bench in the 62nd minute.
Elias Saad and Ismaël Gharbi had already experienced round-of-16 disappointment as Tunisia lost 3-2 on penalties to Mali, after extra time proved insufficient to break the 1-1 deadlock between the sides. Steve Mounié (currently out on loan at Alanyaspor) also missed out on quarter-final qualification, as Benin were unable to get past Egypt and suffered a 3-1 defeat after extra time to call an end to their time at the competition. Mounié missed the occasion due to illness.
