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ENGLISH Premiership star Benik Afobe is finally expected to make his debut for the Congolese Leopards when the DRC host Congo-Brazzaville in a 2019 AFCON qualifier in Kinshasa tomorrow. The gangly forward pulled out of the DRC 2017 Nations Cup squad to concentrate on cementing his place at Bournemouth.

Battles across the Congo River have been rare in African football, but the mouth-watering prospect of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo being drawn in the same qualifying group has finally been realised, with the rivals set to meet this weekend. Everton forward Yannick Bolaise is set to miss the game because of injury.

The neighbours meet in Kinshasa tomorrow at the start of the campaign in arguably the most anticipated of the 24 fixtures on the opening weekend of the group phase of the qualifiers.

Their last clash was a six-goal thriller in Equatorial Guinea at the 2015 Nations Cup finals, but they were last paired in the same qualifying group ahead of the 2002 World Cup, where the DRC won 2-0 at home and drew 1-1 in Brazzaville.

DRC have a much weakened squad ahead of this weekend’s game, as regulars Youssouf Mulumbu, Neeskens Kebano, Dieumerci Mbokani, Paul-Jose Mpoku and Marcel Tisserand are all either injured or out of form. However, Afobe from Bournemouth can finally kick off his international career after skipping the tournament in Gabon to stay with his English club in January.

The two Congolese teams are in the same group as Zimbabwe and Liberia, who clash at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday. For Congo, Monaco’s 20-year-old midfielder Yhoan Andzouana is set for a debut along with Tobias Badila and Dylan Bahamboula, who are French-born, but have declared to play for Red Devils. Bahamboula played two games for France at under-20 level. – Kwese Sport/ESPN/Sports Reporter.