{"id":775335,"date":"2026-07-02T11:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/775335\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:36:13","slug":"senegal-devastated-after-late-world-cup-collapse-against-belgium-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/775335\/","title":{"rendered":"Senegal \u2018devastated\u2019 after late World Cup collapse against Belgium \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 For 85 minutes, Senegal had the run of play. The African team held a two-goal lead, and had all but secured a spot in the round of 16 at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Within 5 minutes, it crumbled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were at the heart of writing the beautiful pages of the history of our football in this world,\u201d defender Kr\u00e9pin Diatta said. \u201cAnd, we have to accept that we failed at our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Senegal
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSenegal goalkeeper Mory Diaw (23) hangs his head while leaving the pitch after a loss during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Belgium and Senegal in Seattle, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ted S. Warren)<\/p>\n

Late goals by Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans tied the score in the final minutes of regulation time, and Tielemans completed Belgium\u2019s 3-2 comeback win by converting a penalty just before the end of extra time.<\/p>\n

The Lions of Teranga would have been the second African team in the tournament to advance to the round of 16. Morocco, one of nine African teams which reached the knockout round, already advanced with a penalty shootout victory against the Netherlands on Monday.<\/p>\n

But now, Senegal is shockingly headed home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re disappointed,\u201d Senegal midfieder Habib Diarra said. \u201cWe had a good first half, but it wasn\u2019t enough. A match lasts 90 minutes, and we\u2019re devastated. It\u2019s very tough. I don\u2019t know what to say. When you\u2019re on the pitch, you have to give your all, and that\u2019s not what we did. We\u2019ve only got ourselves to blame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senegal advanced to the World Cup knockout phase as one of the best third-place finishers after losing to France and Norway and beating Iraq. It survived one of the toughest groups in the tournament, and looked the part of one of the stronger teams in the World Cup most of the afternoon against Belgium.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

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Lukaku\u2019s late goal injected life into Belgium, though, and kept the Group G winners on life support before the referee awarded Belgium a penalty deep into extra time. Senegal\u2019s players protested the decision, but to no avail.<\/p>\n

Diatta gave credit to Belgium for turning the game around, but said Senegal shouldn\u2019t have let it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (did) the job and they proved they can come back. I think the problem was our side,\u201d Diatta said. \u201cWe had to win this game. These kinds of tight games in the box, we have to give everything and not give them a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

\n See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 For 85 minutes, Senegal had the run of play. The African team held a two-goal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-775335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}