Not in the cards
Colombia advances to round of 16 while Senegal is eliminated by “fair play” tiebreaker
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 on Tuesday in Moscow, while Japan goes on to face Belgium in Rostov-on-Don on Monday. Belgium defeated England 1-0 to decide their group in a late match Thursday night.
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.”
This is the first time since 1982 that no African teams have advanced from the first round.
BELGIUM 1, ENGLAND 0: 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 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.
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.
TUNISIA 2, PANAMA 1: Tunisia captain Wahbi Khazri set up a second-half goal and then scored one of his own to help his side secure its first victory in a World Cup in four decades.
The striker’s hard, rising shot in the 66th minute lifted Tunisia to a 2-1 triumph over Panama on Thursday night. It came 15 minutes after Khazri’s pinpoint square pass produced Fakhreddine Ben Youssef ’s equalizer.
Panama had taken the lead in the 33rd minute through an owngoal when Jose Luis Rodriguez’s hard shot deflected off of Yassine Meriah, which sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.
Tunisia hadn’t won a World Cup game since a 3-1 victory over Mexico in 1978.
WORLD CUP GLANCE
GROUP STAGE
All times Eastern x-advanced to 2nd round GROUPA
Team W D L GF GA Pts x-Urug. 30 05 0 9 x-Russia 2 1 0 8 4 6 SaudiA. 1 0 2 2 7 3 Egypt 00 3 2 6 0 Monday, June 25 At Samara, Russia Uruguay 3, Russia 0 At Volgograd, Russia Saudi Arabia 2, Egypt 1 GROUPB
Team W D L GF GA Pts x-Spain 12 06 5 5 x-Port. 12 05 4 5 Iran 11 1 2 2 4 Morocco 0 1 2 2 4 1 Monday, June 25 At Kalinigrad, Russia Spain 2, Morocco 2
At Saransk, Russia Iran 1, Portugal 1 GROUPC
Team W D L GF GA Pts x-France 2 1 03 1 7 x-Denmk. 1 2 02 1 5 Peru 10 2 2 2 3 Australia 0 1 2 2 5 1 Tuesday, June 26 At Sochi, Russia Peru 2, Australia 0 Denmark 0, France 0 x-Croatia 3 0 07 x-Arg, 11 1 3 Nigeria 10 2 3 Iceland 01 2 2 Argentina 2, Nigeria 1 Croatia 2, Iceland 1 x-Brazil x-Switz. Serbia C.Rica 21 12 10 01 05 05 2 2 2 2 Brazil 2, Serbia 0 1 5 4 5 1 4 4 5 Switzerland 2, Costa Rica 2 x-Swe. 20 1 5 2 x-Mex. 20 1 3 4 S. Korea 10 2 3 3 Germ. 10224 South Korea 2, Germany 0 9 4 3 1 7 5 3 1 6 6 3 3