A disappointing end for Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who both had their opponents on the ropes before seeing their World Cup dreams evaporate.
After threatening to pull of one of biggest upsets of the 2026 World Cup, DR Congo crashed out of the tournament on Wednesday after a 2-1 loss to England.
Harry Kane saved England from an early exit from with two second-half goals in a in the round of 32 in Atlanta.
His first goal came in the 75th minute. Substitute Anthony Gordon lifted a cross from the left and despite Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi getting a hand to Kane’s header, he didn’t stop it from nestling into the bottom corner.
Eleven minutes later, Kane sent his shot into the top corner to put the thoughts of an upset to rest.
A disappointing end for Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who both had their opponents on the ropes before seeing their World Cup dreams evaporate.
After threatening to pull of one of biggest upsets of the 2026 World Cup, DR Congo crashed out of the tournament on Wednesday after a 2-1 loss to England.
Harry Kane saved England from an early exit from with two second-half goals in a in the round of 32 in Atlanta.
His first goal came in the 75th minute. Substitute Anthony Gordon lifted a cross from the left and despite Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi getting a hand to Kane’s header, he didn’t stop it from nestling into the bottom corner.
Eleven minutes later, Kane sent his shot into the top corner to put the thoughts of an upset to rest.
Morocco, one of nine African teams which reached the knockout round, already advanced with a penalty shootout victory against the Netherlands on Monday. But now, Senegal is shockingly headed home.
“We’re disappointed,” Senegal midfieder Habib Diarra said. “We had a good first half, but it wasn’t enough. A match lasts 90 minutes, and we’re devastated. It’s very tough. I don’t know what to say. When you’re on the pitch, you have to give your all, and that’s not what we did. We’ve only got ourselves to blame.”
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.
Lukaku’s 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’s players protested the decision, but to no avail.
Diatta gave credit to Belgium for turning the game around, but said Senegal shouldn’t have let it happen.
“They (did) the job and they proved they can come back. I think the problem was our side,” Diatta said. “We had to win this game. These kinds of tight games in the box, we have to give everything and not give them a chance.”
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