The Sports Guru
With five minutes of normal time left, Senegal led 2-0 and Belgium's World Cup was packing its bags. What followed was what the Associated Press called the biggest comeback of this World Cup so far. This covers Belgium's 3-2 extra-time win over Senegal in the round of 32 in Seattle, the late Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans goals that forced extra time, the seven-minute VAR review that produced the decisive penalty, the record Tielemans set by converting it at 124 minutes and 44 seconds, and the last-16 meeting with the USA that it earned.
Belgium are through to the last 16 of the World Cup, and they have no earthly right to be. For 85 minutes of their round-of-32 tie in Seattle on Wednesday, Senegal were two goals up and comfortable, closer to the quarter-final draw than to any hint of trouble. Then Romelu Lukaku scored, Youri Tielemans scored, and deep into extra time, with a penalty shootout seconds away, Tielemans scored again from the spot at 124 minutes and 44 seconds. No man has ever scored later in a men's World Cup match. Belgium won 3-2, and Senegal are left with the kind of defeat that follows a team home and lets itself in.
The prize for the great escape is a round-of-16 meeting with the USA, in this same city, in front of what will be a rather less neutral crowd. The cost of it is a question Belgium would prefer not to answer: how does a side with this much talent keep needing miracles?
Senegal's afternoon of control
For an hour and a half of football, this was Senegal's match, and not narrowly. The opener arrived on 25 minutes and was built the hard way: Ismaila Sarr rose to meet a header that crashed back off the post, and Habib Diarra was first to the rebound, tucking it past the goalkeeper with the calm of a man putting the milk back in the fridge. Six minutes into the second half Sarr got the goal his first-half work deserved, chesting down a long ball and finishing to make it 2-0.
Belgium's response to going behind was to get worse. The half-time introduction of Lukaku was an admission that the first 45 minutes had not worked, and the 56th-minute removal of Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku was an admission rather louder than that. A team does not take off its most decorated playmaker in a knockout tie because things are going to plan. Senegal, who had scored 10 goals at this tournament before this match even started, the first African side to manage that in a single edition, looked every inch the better team. Their supporters, who had turned Seattle green and yellow, were already singing about the last 16.
Five minutes from the exit
What turned it was not a tactical masterstroke so much as the oldest Belgian trick in the book: give the ball to Lukaku in the six-yard box. On 86 minutes Thomas Meunier's delivery found him for a tap-in, and the strangest statistic of the night duly arrived with it. That finish was Belgium's first shot on target. Eighty-six minutes of possession and pedigree, and not one attempt worth a goalkeeper's gloves until the one that mattered.
Three minutes later the tie had been turned on its head. Leandro Trossard, who has now created 16 chances at this World Cup, more than any other player at the tournament, swung in a cross from the left and Tielemans powered a header past the goalkeeper. From 2-0 down on 85 minutes to level on 89. Opta later confirmed that no team in World Cup history had trailed by two goals that late in normal time and avoided defeat. Senegal had done everything except finish the job, and the punishment for that particular sin at a World Cup is always the same.
Seven minutes at the screen
Extra time crawled towards penalties, which would have been a fair way to settle a match this even and this strange. It never got there. In the 117th minute Lamine Camara caught Tielemans, and referee Said Martinez was invited to the pitchside monitor. He stayed there a long time. The review stretched to seven minutes, long enough for both sets of players to sit down on the turf and for every neutral in the stadium to develop a strong opinion, and when Martinez finally emerged he pointed to the spot, waving away Senegalese protests that went on nearly as long as the review.
The decision did not travel well. On Sky Sports, Gary Neville said: "I don't think it's a penalty on the bar that's been set in this tournament." Roy Keane went further: "It's very, very harsh. The referee took so long at the screen." Neither man wears green and yellow. Tielemans, who had already dragged Belgium level once, was unmoved by any of it. He put the penalty away at 124 minutes and 44 seconds, the latest goal ever recorded in a men's World Cup match, with the shootout so close the goalkeepers had all but chosen their corners.
There is a version of this story where the seven minutes at the screen become a footnote. Senegal will not read it. A side that led for over an hour, that had been the better team in almost every measurable way, went out to a penalty awarded on the narrowest of margins at the last possible moment. Their World Cup, which included a 5-0 dismantling of Iraq and survived a 3-2 defeat to Norway in the group, ends as the first African campaign to reach double figures for goals in one edition. It deserved a gentler ending than a referee's finger pointing at a penalty spot in the 125th minute.
What it means, and the USA next
For Belgium, the history books offer a familiar echo. The last team to recover from two goals down and win a World Cup knockout tie was Belgium themselves, against Japan in 2018. That comeback launched a run to the semi-finals and gave a golden generation its best World Cup. This one belongs to a different, less celebrated group, and that may be exactly why it felt so raw. Belgium had spluttered through their group, held to a 1-1 draw by Egypt in a game remembered for a Lukaku own goal and to a goalless draw by ten-man Iran. Nothing about their tournament suggested they had a night like this in them. Knockout football has a habit of ignoring the form guide.
Next comes the USA, in Seattle again, at 1am UK time on Tuesday, Monday evening for the locals. The hosts beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 with ten men to book their place, and they will bring a full-throated home crowd to a stadium Belgium have now made memories in. The Americans will also have watched this match closely and noticed the same thing everyone else did. For 85 minutes, Belgium were there for the taking. The comeback was magnificent, the record is Tielemans' forever, and the warning could not be clearer. Teams that need the latest goal in World Cup history to survive the round of 32 do not usually get to keep testing their luck. Belgium, of all teams, know how far one impossible comeback can carry you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Belgium beat Senegal 3-2 after extra time in their World Cup round-of-32 tie in Seattle on Wednesday 1 July. Senegal led 2-0 through Habib Diarra and Ismaila Sarr, but Romelu Lukaku scored on 86 minutes, Youri Tielemans headed an equaliser on 89, and Tielemans then converted a 125th-minute penalty to win it in extra time.
Tielemans' winning penalty was struck at 124 minutes and 44 seconds, the latest goal ever scored in a men's World Cup match. Opta also confirmed that Belgium became the first team in World Cup history to trail by two goals as late as the 85th minute of normal time and avoid defeat.
Referee Said Martinez awarded the penalty for Lamine Camara's 117th-minute challenge on Tielemans only after a VAR review that stretched to around seven minutes. Sky Sports pundits questioned the call, with Gary Neville saying it did not meet the bar set in the tournament and Roy Keane calling it "very, very harsh". Senegal's players protested at length before the kick was taken.
Belgium face hosts the USA in the round of 16 in Seattle, with kick-off at 1am UK time on Tuesday, Monday evening local time. The Americans reached the last 16 by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 despite playing with ten men, and will have strong home support at the same stadium where Belgium beat Senegal.
Senegal went out in the round of 32 but became the first African team to score 10 goals in a single World Cup edition. They beat Iraq 5-0 in the group stage, lost a five-goal thriller to Norway, and led Belgium 2-0 until the 86th minute of their knockout tie before conceding three times, the last a disputed penalty at 124:44.
Sources: Final score, goalscorers and minutes, Habib Diarra's rebound opener after Ismaila Sarr's header hit the post, Sarr's second, the Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans comeback goals, the Thomas Meunier and Leandro Trossard assists, the Lamine Camara foul, referee Said Martinez's seven-minute VAR review, the Gary Neville and Roy Keane reaction, the 124:44 record and Opta's comeback and chance-creation numbers, Senegal's 10-goal tournament, and the last-16 tie against the USA in Seattle, as reported by Sky Sports, ESPN, the Associated Press, France 24, beIN Sports and Opta Analyst following the BBC's live coverage of Belgium 3-2 Senegal at the World Cup.
