France 3-1 Senegal: FIFA World Cup Match Report

Nothing happened for forty-five minutes and then four goals did. France 3-1 Senegal was goalless at half-time and finished as one of the more one-sided scorelines the opening round produced, which makes the interval score the most instructive part of the whole match.

A goalless first half between two of the stronger sides drawn together in Group I is not the same thing as a dull one, and the second half rules out the idea that either team was content to sit. France scored three after the break, Senegal one, and a match that had produced nothing in its first half produced four goals in its second.

The pattern repeated for France six days later: a 1-0 half-time lead over Iraq that turned into 3-0. Slow starts and heavy finishes became the identifying feature of their group stage, which closed with nine points, ten goals scored and two conceded — the strongest goal difference of the three sides that took maximum points from their group.

Senegal's goal is worth its own note. France conceded twice across the entire group stage, and one of the two came here. The other came in a 4-1 win over Norway on the final day.

France went on to beat Iraq 3-0 and Norway 4-1 to win Group I with a perfect record. Norway took second on six points after beating Senegal 3-2 and Iraq 4-1.

Senegal's group is the odder story. They finished third on three points with eight goals scored — as many as the Norway side that took second — having beaten Iraq 5-0 on the final day. The defeat here and the 3-2 loss to Norway a week later are what left them there; scoring eight goals in three matches and finishing third is an unusual set of numbers to come out of a group with.

Iraq finished bottom without a point.

Our pre-match call was Both Teams to Score at 1.72. It came in, though it needed the second half to do it — at the interval the selection had nothing at all on the board and was looking like the wrong read on two sides feeling each other out.

The reasoning behind it held up. Senegal had the attacking quality to breach a strong defence at least once, and France had scoring capacity that a goalless first half was never going to suppress for ninety minutes. Both of those turned out to be true, and the fact that France conceded only twice in the whole group makes the Senegal goal a better outcome for the bet than the final margin implies.

Verdict: won