Belgium captain Youri Tielemans celebrates scoring his team's third goal against Senegal.
Image: AFP
Head coach Rudi Garcia hailed captain Youri Tielemans after the midfielder's last-gasp penalty completed an astonishing 3-2 extra-time comeback victory over Senegal in the FIFA World Cup round of 32 on Wednesday night.
Senegal looked destined for a place in the next round as they held a commanding two-goal cushion with just five minutes of normal time remaining. However, a resilient Belgium produced a dramatic, late fightback through strikes from Romelu Lukaku and Tielemans to force extra time in Seattle.
Tielemans then held his nerve to convert a clinical penalty in the 125th minute of the tie to send Belgium marching into the round of 16. The Aston Villa star faced a lengthy, gamesmanship-fueled delay before taking the spot-kick as furious Senegal players surrounded the penalty area, but he calmly dispatched his effort to cap an improbable turnaround.
"What matters is that Youri Tielemans had the composure and the quality. And once again, we have the experience to take that kind of penalty, because it's not easy," Garcia stated post-match.
"At 2-2, in the 120th minute or even later, when you're tired—and Youri was feeling it physically—to go and score that penalty is a difficult task. He succeeded. As a result, he has sent us through to the round of 16. Congratulations to our captain. I think he was absolutely outstanding."
Belgium will remain in Seattle to play either tournament co-hosts the United States or Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 6 for a coveted place in the quarter-finals.
For much of the afternoon, it seemed the curtain was about to fall permanently on the last remaining stalwarts of Belgium's 'Golden Generation' — Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, and veteran goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois — who previously drove the country to a historic third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup. Instead, a late act of defiance from the Red Devils means their tournament journey lives to fight another day.
"Going 2-0 down and then coming back to make it 2-2 gives you a huge lift, and now the journey continues," added Garcia.
"It's true that a scenario like this can bring a squad even closer together. It can make the players realise that, until a match is over and the final whistle has blown, anything can happen — as we cleanly showed."
Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw admitted it was a "cruel" and agonizing way for his team to exit the competition.
The Lions of Teranga had broken the deadlock when Habib Diarra alertly turned in a rebound after Ismaila Sarr's initial header crashed back off the upright. Sarr then doubled their advantage, matching the legendary Roger Milla's record for the most goals scored by an African player at a single World Cup finals with his fourth strike of the tournament. However, a catastrophic late collapse allowed Belgium to pull off an unlikely great escape.
"We had the fixture completely in hand; we were leading 2-0 and we sat back a bit towards the end, I think because we wanted to protect the lead," Thiaw reflected glumly. "Once we conceded for 2-1, we dropped even deeper into our block and they got their second goal. It wasn't easy. We tried to get back on our feet, but it unfortunately didn't work out."
Thiaw refused to be drawn into a bitter debate over the validity of the late penalty decision, though he clearly felt his side were hard done by. Memories of Senegal's infamous walk-off protest following a late penalty award in the Africa Cup of Nations final in Morocco in January briefly resurfaced in the stadium, but this time there was no such extreme reaction from the squad.
"When we looked at the replay, our interpretation was that there was no penalty. The players tried to contest it. It's their right, but they ultimately respected the referee's decision," Thiaw concluded.
"It's not easy to lose this kind of match... unfortunately it slipped away from us. But it's football; it's cruel, it's not easy at all, but you simply have to accept it, even if it's incredibly difficult."
AFP