Full Time
Senegal hammered Iraq 5-0 in Toronto to finish their group stage with a bang, though they'll need to wait and see if it's enough to sneak through as one of the best third-placed teams. Iraq went down to ten men early — Sulaka picked up a straight red after a VAR review for hauling down Mane — and Senegal made them pay in the second half, Pape Gueye coming off the bench to score twice with long-range efforts that were frankly a bit rude. Habib Diarra had opened the scoring at a corner in the 4th minute, with Sarr and Ndiaye adding gloss either side of Gueye's brace. Iraq are out; Senegal sit third in Group I on three points and are now watching results elsewhere with their fingers crossed.
Pre-match Talking Points
-
1Both Senegal and Iraq lost their first two games, which means this is a dead rubber for everyone except them. Senegal need a win and a big one — goal difference matters for third-place qualification — so this is very much do or die. Iraq are already in a worse spot with a -6 goal difference, and their fate is essentially out of their hands even if they win.
-
2These two countries have almost no meaningful history against each other at major tournaments. Iraq's last World Cup appearance was 1986 — forty years ago — and Senegal haven't exactly been regulars either. So there's no storied rivalry, no old grudge, no psychological baggage. Just two teams who both came here full of hope and are now scrapping for something to show for it.
-
3Keep an eye on Ismaila Sarr. He already has three goals in nine World Cup appearances and scored twice against Norway — which, given Senegal lost that game 3-2, tells you something about how that went. The point is: he's the one Senegal player who has actually been doing it at this tournament, and if they're going to rack up the goals they need, he's the most likely source.
-
4Goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is a significant doubt after picking up a ligament problem against Norway, which would mean Le Havre's Mory Diaw stepping in for the biggest game Senegal have played in years. For Iraq, Australian manager Graham Arnold has built a team around striker Aymen Hussein — who scored eight times in qualifying — but his fitness has been questioned after the heavy defeat to France. If both goalkeepers and a key striker are compromised, this match could get chaotic.
-
5Iraq are at their first World Cup since 1986, which is one of those facts that makes you do a double-take. That's four decades, a lot of geopolitical upheaval, and a lot of qualifying heartbreak. They got here by beating Bolivia in a play-off and were the last team to confirm their spot. They haven't won a game yet, but just being here is genuinely the story — and it would be a shame if that got forgotten in all the scramble for goal difference.
Team Talking Points
-
1Senegal'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.
-
2The 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.
-
3The 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.
-
4Ismaila 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.
-
5Senegal 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.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Two goals up with five minutes left and somehow still lost in extra time to a penalty in the 125th minute — that's not a bad World Cup, that's a horror film.
🚫
Avoid saying
"They bottled it" — Senegal were 2-0 up and unlucky, not bottling anything; save that phrase for a team that actually collapsed on its own terms, not one that got mugged by a stoppage-time VAR penalty.
-
1Iraq's World Cup ended in the group stage with three defeats from three — 4-1 to Norway, 3-0 to France, 5-0 to Senegal — but simply being there was the real headline. It's Iraq's first World Cup since 1986, a 40-year wait, and they were drawn straight into a group with France, Norway and Senegal, all three of whom went through.
-
2The high point actually came before the tournament: beating Bolivia 2-1 in the intercontinental play-off to book their spot at all, with Ali Al-Hamadi heading them in front and Aymen Hussein settling it just after half-time. That result is the reason Iraq had a World Cup to turn up to in the first place.
-
3Once the group stage started, the football was tougher going — a genuine group of death, and the scorelines show it. There's no shame in it: France and Norway both progressed, and Senegal made it through as one of the best third-placed teams. Iraq just ran into three teams playing above them.
-
4Ali Al-Hamadi was the one to know — the first Iraqi player ever to appear in the Premier League, at Ipswich Town, bringing pace and directness to a front line built around the more experienced Hussein's finishing.
-
5Iraq leave with no points and a heavy goal difference, but also a first World Cup appearance in 40 years finally banked. Whatever comes next for Iraqi football, this squad are the ones who ended the wait.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Iraq waited 40 years to get back to a World Cup, landed in a group with France, Norway and Senegal, and lost every game — but they were there, which was the whole point after four decades away.
🚫
Avoid saying
Don't say "Iraq have no World Cup pedigree at all" as if this is completely uncharted territory — their only previous appearance, back in 1986, was also a group-stage exit, so there's no lost golden era to invoke either way.