SAMARA, Russia – The “fair play” tiebreaker doesn’t seem all that fair to Senegal.
The last African team standing at the World Cup lost to Colombia 1-0 Thursday, leaving it even with Japan on record, goal differential, total goals and head-to-head. The next tiebreaker to determine who would move on as the second-place team in the group – Colombia was first – was a new one: which team accumulated fewer yellow cards. Japan had four, Senegal had six.
Japan lost to Poland 1-0 in the other group match, which was played at the same time. When Japan realized that second place would come down to the yellow-card tiebreaker, the Japanese started stalling.
“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,” coach Aliou Cisse said. “You have to be in contact with other players when you play football. This is how you play football. It worked against us.”
Yerry Mina scored the only goal. The 6-foot-5 Barcelona defender leapt above a pair of Senegalese defenders to head the ball hard off the ground, off Senegal goalkeeper Khadim Ndiaye’s hand and into the net, sending the enthusiastic Colombian fans at Samara Stadium into a frenzy.
Colombia, which reached the quarterfinals four years ago in Brazil, is the fourth South American team to advance, with only Peru getting eliminated. All five African teams failed to move on.
Colombia will face England while Japan will play Belgium, which won Group G.
Japan and Senegal drew 2-2 in a back-and-forth match on Sunday. Japan beat Colombia 2-1 to begin the tournament, while Senegal beat Poland by the same score. If FIFA had not added the fair play tiebreaker for this World Cup, the two teams would have had to draw lots to determine which would advance.
“We would have preferred to be eliminated in another way,” Cisse said. “But as I say, it’s pity for us, it’s a pity for our team. But we knew the regulations.”
Senegal’s Keita Balde was asked afterward if he knew during the game about Poland’s goal. He said his Monaco teammate, Colombian star Radamel Falcao, told him, but he didn’t get a chance to talk to his Senegalese teammates because he was so focused on the game.
“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,” Balde said.
This is the first time since 1982 that no African teams have advanced from the first round.
VOLGOGRAD, Russia – Despite losing 1-0 to Poland, the Japanese were able to advance to the round of 16 because they received fewer yellow cards than Senegal, which lost to Colombia by the same score at the same time.
Once Colombia had scored in Samara, Japan knew it had done enough to advance even though it was losing late in its match. The Japanese players slowed play down to almost nothing, softly passing the ball back and forth in little triangles in their own end to waste time.
“My decision was to rely on the other match,” Japan coach Akira Nishino said. “I’m not too happy about this but ... I forced my players to do what I said. And we went through.
“It was an ultimate decision for me to make. We did not go through with victory, but we just relied on the other match and I feel that it was slightly regrettable but I suppose at that point I didn’t have any other plans.”
The fans at the Volgograd Arena showed their displeasure by booing and whistling loudly over the final minutes. Poland, happy to get a victory after two losses, did little to pressure the opposing side.
Poland, which had already been eliminated, got its goal from defender Jan Bednarek in the 59th minute. He beat his marker at the far post and volleyed in a swerving free kick from Rafal Kurzawa.
When Bednarek scored, Japan was facing elimination. However, Colombia’s goal in the 74th minute of the other group match meant Japan was in second place and would advance.
As the game continued, it barely got above walking pace.
“It was for us more important for us to get into the next round than to win the match,” Japan midfielder Gotoku Sakai said.
KALININGRAD, Russia – In a match neither team had to win, Belgium came out on top and took first place in its World Cup group with a 1-0 victory over England on Thursday.
Adnan Januzaj scored the only goal with a curling shot in the 51st minute on a night of little tension or attacking intent.
With the victory, Belgium gets what appears to be an easier match in the next round against Japan on Monday in Rostov-on-Don. England will face Colombia on Tuesday in Moscow.
“I don’t think you can plan the ideal scenario,” Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said. “You have seen big nations coming very close to elimination, or already eliminated.”
Both teams had advanced to the round of 16 before the match.
Although Belgium was the winner of the group, it might have the tougher road to the final with Brazil, Portugal, France and Argentina possible future opponents. If England gets past Colombia, it could face Spain, Russia, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden or Switzerland on its way to a possible final.
“We don’t suffer for (the loss),” England coach Gareth Southgate said. “What this means for the next round we don’t really know.”
Belgium is one of only three teams to advance to the knockout round with 3-0 records from the group stage. Croatia and Uruguay are the others.
SARANSK, Russia – Tunisia captain Wahbi Khazri and Fakhreddine Ben Youssef ensured their nation’s World Cup slump wouldn’t enter a fifth decade.
Khazri’s hard, rising shot in the 66th minute lifted Tunisia to a 2-1 triumph over Panama on Thursday night. It came about 15 minutes after the Rennes striker’s pinpoint pass produced Ben Youssef’s equalizer on a redirection off of his right instep.
“We wanted to snatch the victory and I wanted to score and I did,” Youssef said. “This is great day for Tunisia.”
Panama is still looking for a maiden World Cup victory – or draw, for that matter. But it took its first ever lead in World Cup play in the 33rd minute through an own-goal when Jose Luis Rodriguez’s hard, left-footed shot deflected off of Tunisia’s Yassine Meriah.
Both Group G teams were already eliminated going into the match. Tunisia hadn’t won a World Cup game since a 3-1 victory over Mexico in 1978. The Carthage Eagles then failed to win any of their next 13 World Cup matches, a streak that ended in somewhat expected fashion.
“When we landed in this group we knew very well that our best hope was to come third in this group,” Tunisia coach Nabil Maaloul said.
Statistically, Panama was the worst performer in this World Cup, but coach Hernan Gomez took issue with one reporter suggesting his team was the worst in tournament.
“Please don’t call us the worst team. We are not the worst team. We are a team that is learning and growing,” Gomez said. “You need to respect our team much more. You cannot call us the worst team. That is a lack of respect.”
