This time Senegal’s players did not depart the field prematurely owing to a burning sense of injustice, as they did in the Africa Cup of Nations final in January, but they did exit another knockout match aggrieved after Belgium advanced to the last 16 deep in extra time. The winning goal, a nerveless Youri Tielemans penalty which capped an extraordinary comeback from 2-0 down, came with 124 minutes and 44 seconds on the clock, cementing its place as the latest goal in World Cup history.
A penalty shootout appeared all but a formality until the referee, Saíd Martínez, wandered towards the video review monitor, an audience of players awaiting the verdict on Lamine Kamara swiping Tielemans’s left ankle in the seconds before Dodi Lukebakio skimmed the crossbar. Romelu Lukaku bounced the ball on the edge of the box as Senegal’s players swamped the penalty spot; Pathe Ciss curled in a heap in an attempt to delay the spot-kick for as long as possible. Rudi Garcia could not watch, turning his back on the sidelines before Tielemans seized on Belgium’s get out of jail card to tee up a last-16 meeting with the USAhere on Monday (Tuesday 1am BST). A tearful Kamara was inconsolable at the final whistle, his green shirt still covering his face as he headed down the tunnel.
If this sour ending felt familiar for Senegal, then Belgium, too, had been in this scenario before. Tielemans was a substitute at Russia 2018 when Belgium triumphed 3-2 against Japan to reach the quarter-finals, after trailing 2-0 with 21 minutes of normal time remaining. Thibaut Courtois, Thomas Meunier, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne all featured that evening in Rostov-on-Don and each played their parts here, some more than others given the latter, together with Jeremy Doku, was withdrawn 11 minutes into the second half as Garcia sought to change rhythm. At that point, Ismaïla Sarr was still fresh from doubling Senegal’s lead after a wondrous control-and-finish that left Belgium stunned.
So, what was the moment that flipped this match? Perhaps it was the stern words Tielemans exchanged with Leandro Trossard during the second-half drinks break? Lukaku and another sub, Nico Raskin, played peacemakers. “Lukaku tried to calm both of them down,” Garcia said afterwards. “I don’t know why they were arguing but I like that – we need that kind of grit on the pitch. When I took the team over 18 months ago, I thought they were very good when in control of the ball, but I thought they were not aggressive enough and that’s not how you get a result – you need to be solid, you need to battle to be there. We’re a better team if we keep this up.”
It was hard to ignore the impact of Garcia’s raft of substitutes, and not the ones that stormed the pitch after Tielemans’s 89th-minute equaliser or, indeed, after his spot-kick. Lukaku replaced the ineffective Charles De Ketelaere at half time and eventually made his presence felt, converting Meunier’s cross at the front post in the 86th minute after easing aside Ciss. Lukebakio also undeniably made his mark from the bench, the Benfica winger introduced in place of Doku. Raskin replaced De Bruyne, who was reduced to playing cheerleader and among those who joined the extra-time pile-on.
Things would have been very different had, with six minutes of regular time remaining, Courtois not prevented Senegal making it 3-0. Sadio Mané was influential in Habib Diarra’s opener, but hunting a goal himself he was denied when Courtois clambered down to his right. Five minutes later, Belgium restored parity, Tielemans building on Lukaku’s smart finish with a brave header after meeting Trossard’s dainty, on-the-money cross. Tielemans had pointed Trossard towards the space behind Moussa Niakhate, and the Aston Villa midfielder, sandwiched between Niakhate and Ismail Jakobs, soared high to beat Mory Diaw, the Senegal goalkeeper again deputising for Edouard Mendy, to the punch.
Trossard dropped to his knees to drink in the moment, Diego Moreira rushing to embrace the Arsenal forward. Senegal felt Niakhate was shoved by Tielemans and the players protested against the award of the penalty, but afterwards their head coach, Pape Thiaw, declined to criticise the officiating. “It is a cruel loss,” said Thiaw, part of the Senegal side that beat Sweden in 2002, their last World Cup knockout victory. “We had the advantage, we were leading 2-0, however a football match is not 85 minutes. Belgium came back and we were not able to deal with that.”
Belgium struggled to stem Senegal’s flow until their late show. Sarr rattled a post inside 12 minutes and headed against the same post again on 24 minutes, but this time Diarra feasted on the rebound. Sarr put Senegal in dreamland six minutes into the second half, eliminating three defenders including Arthur Theate after expertly taking Niakhate’s flighted pass in his stride. Sarr controlled the ball on his chest on the edge of the box, allowed it to bounce and then smacked a shot past Courtois with his next touch. At that point, a Belgium victory appeared most unlikely.
“Football is emotions – it’s never lost, you always need to believe,” Garcia said, before returning to the contretemps that, together with his subs, perhaps proved the catalyst for the comeback. “The worst thing is not to say things and die, because we really wanted to change the situation, and that’s what we did.”
