Senegal gave their chances of surviving the World Cup group stage a huge boost on Friday as they sent hosts Qatar packing with a 3-1 win.
Mendy comes up big as Senegal winAfrican side can still go throughQatar all but out with two defeats
TELL ME MORE: Both teams went into the match in dire need of a victory after opening the competition with 2-0 defeats, with Senegal going down to Netherlands and Qatar being bested by an Enner Valencia-inspired Ecuador.
Boulaye Dia opened the scoring for Senegal shortly before half-time when he pounced on a mistake from the Qatar defence to coolly slot into the net. Famara Diedhiou then doubled the African team’s lead just three minutes into the second half when he rose to head in a corner. Mohammed Muntari managed to pull one back for the tournament hosts after 78 minutes, but that goal was rendered irrelevant when Bamba Dieng added a third with a simple finish after Iliman Ndiaye had cut the ball back.
The win gives Senegal a vital three points to put them in third place and sets them up for a vital showdown against Ecuador in the final game of the group stage. Qatar, meanwhile, will need a miracle to get back in contention and have a daunting final fixture against Netherlands to come.
THE MVP: All the pressure was on Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy as Aliou Cisse kept faith in his No.1 after his disastrous outing in the game one defeat to Netherlands. There had been calls for QPR’s Seny Dieng to come in and replace the 30-year-old but Mendy was given the nod and boy did he redeem himself. Called up on more than one occasion, the Blues keeper stood tall to keep out Qatar, with one second-half save, that he diverted wide of the far past, in particular proving vital. Yes, he conceded but it was a big performance in testing circumstances that will give him a huge confident boost for the final group game and potentially beyond.
THE BIG LOSER: Boualem Khoukhi slipped at the vital moment to present Dia with the perfect opportunity to fire in the opening goal of the game. It looked like a simple ball for the centre-back to deal with but he ended up falling to the ground and could not recover as Dia snapped up the golden opportunity. Ultimately, that first goal was crucial and Qatar heads dropped as a result.
MATCH IN THREE PHOTOS:
AS IT STANDS:
TeamPWDLGDPTSNetherlands110023Ecuador110023Senegal210103Qatar2002-40
WHAT NEXT? Senegal will hope to seal their place in the knockout stages when they take on Ecuador in their last group-stage match, while Qatar have a brutal fixture against Netherlands coming in their final match.
MATCH RATING (OUT OF FIVE): ⭐⭐⭐
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