Belgium 3-2 Senegal: FIFA World Cup Round of 32 Match Report

Belgium 3-2 Senegal, after extra time, and the most dramatic tie of the Round of 32 that did not go to penalties. Senegal led at half-time, the sides were level at 2-2 after ninety minutes, and Belgium won it with the only goal of the additional period.

Five goals, a half-time deficit, an equaliser, and an extra-time winner — this was the game that turned Belgium's tournament around. They had qualified from Group G having scored six goals, five of which came in one match, and had drawn their other two. Winning a knockout tie from behind, twice, was not something the group stage suggested they had in them.

Senegal's exit closes a campaign in which they scored eight goals across four matches and never quite defended well enough to make them count.

Belgium's Group G was the least convincing of any side reaching the last sixteen. They drew 1-1 with Egypt, drew 0-0 with Iran, and beat New Zealand 5-1 in the final round. Five points, six goals — five of them against the group's weakest team — and two matches in which they managed one goal between them.

Senegal qualified from Group I in third place with three points, in a group won by France. They lost 3-1 to France, lost 3-2 to Norway, and then beat Iraq 5-0 in a final match that secured qualification on goal difference. Eight goals scored and six conceded across three matches — the most open group campaign of any qualifier.

The 3-2 defeat to Norway is the tie's best precedent. Senegal had already lost a five-goal match by a single goal in this tournament, and they did it again here — the difference being that this time it took 120 minutes.

Belgium went on to beat the United States 4-1 in the Round of 16, their most complete performance of the tournament, before losing 2-1 to Spain in the quarter-final — the only knockout match in which Spain conceded. From a group stage that produced two goals in two matches against Egypt and Iran, they reached the last eight and scored seven goals in two knockout ties.

That transformation started here. Coming from behind twice against a side that had scored eight group goals is the sort of result that changes what a squad believes it can do.

For Senegal, elimination in the Round of 32 after 120 minutes is a hard end to a campaign that always carried goals. Eight scored in the group, two more here, and three defeats by a single goal to France, Norway and Belgium.