a ferociously contested last-32 tie,<\/a> which saw history made in Seattle, leaving Belgium euphoric and Senegal in despair. This is how it happened.<\/p>\nBelgium were falling apart. Not much was expected of them at this World Cup, certainly compared to previous tournaments when they were legitimately amongst the favourites, but to lose meekly without laying a glove on an excellent Senegal side wasn\u2019t in the script.<\/p>\n
Garcia is known for his unorthodox substitutions, but even by his standards, these were extreme, with Jeremy Doku, typically their best prospect for some lightning-quick creativity, withdrawn in the 56th minute, as well as legendary midfielder Kevin De Bruyne.<\/p>\n
De Bruyne accepted his fate, jogging immediately to the dugout. Doku shook his head, muttered to himself and slowly trudged off, with Benfica\u2019s Dodi Lukebakio and Nicolas Raskin of Rangers sent on in their place. In the press box, some Belgian journalists reacted with equal outrage.<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t the only sign of discontent. Leandro Trossard and Youri Tielemans became embroiled in a heated argument as the players paused for the second half hydration break, with Aston Villa midfielder Tielemans waving his arms and yelling at his teammate. \u201cHey, hey!\u201d Romelu Lukaku shouted at the pair as Raskin stood between them to keep them apart.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2283677485-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Youri Tielemans and Leandro Trossard have to be separated (Dirk Waem\/Belga\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cLukaku took care of calming them down,\u201d Garcia later said. \u201cI like that; it shows our team is alive. They were so eager to win. I want players who want to turn things around when things aren\u2019t going well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia\u2019s team were threatening to unravel but he saw a way back into the match. He felt Belgium were losing possession too softly, and, via Strasbourg youngster Diego Moreira, who also came on in midfield, they rectified that, dominating the ball for much of the game, albeit without laying much of a glove on Senegal, whose supporters were partying their way to the last-16 in the stands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strength of this group also lies in those who come off the bench,\u201d Garcia added. \u201cYou can\u2019t get results with just 11 players. We corrected our course well from the middle of the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senegal were still cruising, but then came a comeback \u2014 or maybe more accurately an implosion \u2014 that will go down in World Cup history.<\/p>\n
Just 159 seconds separated Belgium\u2019s two goals from Lukaku and Tielemans, the latter involving a horrible mistake from stand-in keeper Mory Diaw, who rushed off his line and got nowhere near Trossard\u2019s cross.<\/p>\n
Tielemans and Trossard embraced, hugged and smiled, their argument now long forgotten.<\/p>\n
While there were some complaints about the ball, which was soon changed after the equaliser,\u00a0Senegal still looked the more likely winners in extra time. But there was to be one more cruel twist amid a barmy atmosphere in Seattle, with everyone in the stadium on their feet in the incredibly tense closing minutes.<\/p>\n
Sadly for Senegal, it was a fairly soft penalty that decided it, as Lamine Camara committed a sliding challenge on Tielemans as the ball came across the six-yard box.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2283683103-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Lamine Camara brings down Youri Tielemans (Bruno Fahy\/Belga\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The resulting VAR review, which eventually led referee Said Martinez to overturn his decision (Graham Scott, The Athletic\u2019s refereeing expert, said he \u201cwould have been happier had the VAR kept out\u201d), and then a further stoppage as Senegal defender Pathe Ciss crouched over the penalty spot, refusing to move, lasted seven minutes in total.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMLS9iIXEAA1aIX-e1782962966136.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Pathe Ciss crouches over the penalty spot (Fox Sport)<\/p>\n
That made Tielemans\u2019 winning penalty, scored in the 125th minute, the latest goal ever scored at a World Cup match, comfortably beating Abdelmoumene Djabou\u2019s 121st-minute goal for Algeria against Germany in 2014 (a consolation goal, with Germany winning the last 16 tie 2-1).<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has their own interpretation of the penalty, I won\u2019t comment on the referee\u2019s decision,\u201d manager Thiaw said, again refusing to make excuses. \u201cUnfortunately, we weren\u2019t able to manage the game when we were leading 2-0.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they came back, it wasn\u2019t easy. There were times when we had physical problems. Some players were tired, we were forced to make substitutions. We have to accept it, that\u2019s football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defender Krepin Diatta was also not in the mood to dodge blame.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe almost made it, we have to stop making excuses,\u201d Diatta stated. \u201cWe weren\u2019t supposed to lose that match at that moment. The team lacked character.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re leading 2-0 in the 84th minute you have got to be the boss in your defence, even if it means putting your head in there. We failed. There\u2019s no excuse. The people deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their honourable approach was, of course, in stark contrast to the AFCON final in January, when Thiaw instructed his players to leave the pitch in protest at a disallowed goal and VAR decision.<\/p>\n
Here, his players could barely move at the full-time whistle. They lay or kneeled on the turf, completely distraught, while Belgium celebrated wildly. Neither set of players nor the near-capacity crowd in Seattle could believe what had just happened.<\/p>\n
It was a mad 40 minutes that will haunt Senegal for some time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nobody inside the stadium could foresee the most preposterous of World Cup comebacks. Well, nobody except, perhaps, Belgium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,3937,506,4570,3934],"class_list":["post-25642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-international-football","tag-senegal","tag-soccer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116848613580998409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}