Colombia advances while Senegal is eliminated by tiebreaker
SAMARA, Russia (AP) — 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 (1.95-meter) 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.”
Many of Senegal’s players, including Liverpool forward Sadio Mane, would not speak to reporters following the disappointing loss.
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.
Cisse pleaded with his team to move the ball up in the final frantic moments. It appeared as if Senegal knew they were finished in Russia at the final whistle.