Senegal

• 1
  Senegal's tournament ended in the cruellest way possible: a 3-2 extra-time defeat to Belgium in the round of 32 on July 1, after leading 2-0 with five minutes left on the clock. Belgium scored twice in the last four minutes to force extra time, then won it with a stoppage-time penalty converted 124 minutes and 44 seconds in — the latest goal in World Cup history. It was the biggest comeback of the tournament, and Senegal were on the wrong end of it.
• 2
  The high point came in their final group game — a 5-0 demolition of Iraq that made Senegal the first African team ever to score five goals in a single World Cup match, beating a record Algeria had held since 2014. It was exactly the kind of statement win they needed to scrape through as one of the best third-placed teams.
• 3
  The Belgium collapse is the story that will sting for a while. Senegal were two goals up with the game basically won, then conceded twice in normal time before a VAR review — seven minutes long — awarded Belgium a penalty for a challenge deep in extra time. It's the kind of ending that invites a lot of second-guessing, and Senegal fans would be forgiven for still being annoyed about it.
• 4
  Ismaila Sarr is the name to drop — the winger scored four goals across the tournament, including a brace against Norway and a beautifully taken chested finish against Belgium, and was arguably Senegal's most reliable outlet in every game they played. For a team that came within five minutes of the last 16, that kind of output from one player matters.
• 5
  Senegal remain one of Africa's most consistent World Cup performers, and this is the sort of exit — agonisingly close, undone by a handful of minutes — that tends to fuel the next campaign rather than end it. There's no shame in losing the way they did; the shame, if there is any, belongs to whoever they concede stoppage-time penalties against next time.