Zaire's most famous footballer. In 1974, Zaire became the first black African nation to qualify for the World Cup, but their players had little chance to distinguish themselves in their two opening group matches, losing 2-0 to Scotland and then 9-0 to Yugoslavia. Already out of the competition, their final match would be against the reigning World Champions, Brazil, who still needed a win to ensure their qualification for the knockout rounds.

The stage was set, then, for one unheard of Zairean to step up and cause the biggest upset in footballing history. Sadly, they weren't up to the job, and it was Alunga Mwepu alone who earned notoriety. After taking his place in the defensive wall for a Brazil free-kick, Alunga looked at the absurdly gifted array of free-kick specialists (see Rivelino and Jairzinho) standing over the ball, and decided to take matters into his own hands. As the referee blew his whistle, Mwepu sprinted the 10 yards to the ball, and hoofed it down the other end of the pitch, to the general disbelief of the ref, the Brazillians, the 35,000 watching fans in the Frankfurt Waldstadion, and millions of viewers around the globe. Alunga's brainwave has often been held up as proof that African nations are "defensively naive" by certain football pundits, but the performances of Cameroon and Senegal (among others) in recent World Cups would indicate that that's so much racist idiocy. It was Alunga Mwepu who didn't understand the game, not the entire continent of Africa. Duh.

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