Columbia Defeats Senegal to Advance to Final 16

Knowing what was on the line, Senegal, the last team from the African continent still standing knew a win was the only option if they wanted to make the final 16. Heading into the game, Senegal was tied with Japan when paired with total goals and goal differential.

After Columbia defeated Senegal 1-0, and Japan lost to Poland, it came down to yellow cards, and with Senegal having six, it was enough to see them edged out. Japan knew the decision would come down to yellow cards and with both games being played at the same time, they started to stall hoping it would be enough – lucky for them it was.

Senegal’s coach, Aliou Cisse commented on the decision saying,

“I don’t know if the regulation is cruel or not, but I can’t ask my players to go on the pitch in order to avoid yellow cards. You have to be in contact with other players when you play football. This is how you play football. It worked against us.”

Columbia’s Yerry Mina scored their only goal. Mina, who is a defender for Barcelona made a fantastic move as he lept above two players from Senegal to hit a header into the ground that bounced off Khadim Ndiaye’s hand and into the net.

Columbia is now the fourth from South America to advance to the final 16, and with it, Columbian fans went crazy with jubilation. They Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay, with Senegal’s exit, it joined four other African teams not to make the final 16.

The group stage has concluded at the #WorldCup…#JPN 0 – 1 #POL#SEN 0 – 1 #COL#PAN 1 – 2 #TUN #ENG 0 – 1 #BEL

Read our review of all the day’s events here:
👉 https://t.co/FX3LSMFsku pic.twitter.com/TqAltdm4nx

— FIFA World Cup 🏆 (@FIFAWorldCup) June 28, 2018

Columbia will next face the United Kingdom on Tuesday and Monday will see Japan facing Belgium. For Canadian mobile bettors, it is an excellent opportunity to place bets with top rated Canadian sportsbooks on the outcome and pick favourites before the semi-finals begin in the new few days.

In Senegal’s match against Japan, they went back and forth, but neither managed to gain an advantage with the match ending in a draw. Columbia was successful in their pairing against Japan coming away with a 2-1 win, and even though Senegal managed to defeat Poland 2-1, FIFA’s new fair play tiebreaker rule the decision would have come down to a draw to determine the team that would advance.

For Senegal’s Cisse, he is not a fan of the new rule stating,

“We would have preferred to be eliminated in another way, but as I say, it’s pity for us, it’s a pity for our team. But we knew the regulations.”

The disappointment with Senegal players was evident after the game with most refusing to speak to reporters. Keita Balde did stop to talk to reporters and was asked if he was aware of the goal scored by Poland during the game. He admitted that he was told but that the others were unaware as all were focused on the task at hand.

Balde added,

“All of Africa was behind us, all Senegalese as well. And we leave with our head held up high, proud, and ready to give it all whatever comes.”

The loss of Senegal is the first in over 26 years that an African nation has not made the semi-finals. Columbia lost their first game and is the only team that did so and made it to the final 16. Senegal last appearance in the quarterfinals was in 2002, at which point Cisse was team Captain.