Senegal beat 10-man Iraq 5-0, keep World Cup hopes alive | World Cup 2026

Senegal currently have the best record of the third-placed teams based on their two-goal difference.

Pape Gueye scored two impressive second-half goals from long range to give Senegal a 5-0 win over Iraq and a much-needed goal difference in their bid to qualify for the World Cup’s last 32.

Iraq lost and went down to 10 men in their final Group I match at Toronto Stadium on Friday.

Ismail Sarr added his third goal of the tournament, the first of four after half time for the Lions of Teranga who finished third with three points and a two goal difference.

They currently have the best record in the game in third place, but the four teams below them have not played their last game.

Habib Diarra opened the scoring in the fourth minute when it was 11 on 11, and Iliman Ndiaye finished it off with his long-range effort in the 82nd minute.

Iraq, who lost all three group matches, were eliminated from the World Cup for the second time and for the first time since 1986.

Hopes of securing their first World Cup points were boosted when goalkeeper Anthony Taylor sent off defender Rebin Sulaka for denying a goal-scoring opportunity in the 13th minute.

Taylor was only shown a yellow card when Sadio Mane tackled Sulaka who pulled him back with an outstretched arm. But Taylor was called in to ask a reviewer, and after watching the play again, he upped the ante.

Senegal could not capitalize in the rest of the offensive phase, but everything changed in the end.

Lamine Camara set up Sarr’s 56th minute attack to start the second half, forcing the conversion of Iraq in their box, and jumped on the line, then cut a low cross for Sarr to enter the open goal.

Gueye immediately stepped in following Sarr’s offer and soon made his own.

In the 59th minute, he picked up Sarr’s pass near the top right corner of the box, dived to his left and unleashed a curling, left-footed shot that curled past Ahmed Basil into the top corner.

In the 71st, he ran at Ndiaye’s feed and hit a fireball that didn’t give Basil time to move before it crashed into the net.