Lamine Camara (bottom) of Senegal is judged to have fouled Youri Tielemans. The moment that led to Belgium being awarded a penalty even though it is visibly clear the Belgian captain influenced contact from behind.
Image: Xinhua via IANS
Senegal have endured one of the most heartbreaking seasons of international football and fans around the world have backed them amid the latest World Cup controversy.
Senegal led Belgium by 2-0 with just four minutes of normal time left but then the Europeans found a way to level the game.
Former Manchester United legend Roy Keane believes the Senegalese team "found a way to lose" after playing 80 minutes of quality football. The game goes to extra time.
But then, in the dying moments Lamine Camara conceded a penalty for his challenge on Belgium captain Youri Tielemans. For Belgium fans, it validated years of hard work.
But for Senegal and their fans, it felt like deja vu. What would have hurt the Senegalese the most, is the nature of the said offence that was upgraded to a penalty after the referee had rightfully ruled against it.
"The penalty is a bit harsh and the referee took so long to look at the screen. You want conviction in the referee's decision and he was hesitating for a long time," Roy Keane said after the match during a live broadcast.
Keane's broadcasting partner Gary Neville disagreed with the referee's decision, which single handedly eliminated Senegal from the World Cup.
"I genuinely don't believe that is a penalty," Neville said.
In January, Senegal suffered the same fate when Morocco were awarded a stoppage-time penalty.
Fans took to social media to vent their disbelief, calling the latest Senegal drama another "robbery" after they were stripped of the AFCON title.
Senegal Manager Pape Thiaw didn't see things that way, however, citing his teams loss of the 2-0 lead as the main culprit behind their exit instead of a single call by the ref.
"We must congratulate the team who gave it their all, but unfortunately we weren't able to hold on to our two-goal lead. We have to accept this. That's football," Thiaw said after the defeat on Wednesday.
Then in a shocking turn of events, Thiaw threatened to quit as leader of the Senegalese outfit unless the technical staff was changed.
"I announce today that as long as it's this technical staff I'll take a break from the selection," Thiaw wrote on social media.
Clearly, there's no love lost between the Senegalese and Moroccans, six months after the AFCON controversy. After the defeat on Wednesday, Moroccan right back Mohamed Chibi took a stab at Thiaw on social media, mocking him with a picture of the final score.
"Go there and cry," Chibi wrote on his Instagram as the caption to his image.
Jehran Naidoo is sports reporter for Independent Media and social media coordinator of the our YouTube channel The Clutch