81/104ths of the World Cup
Belgium's golden generation never achieved the success many predicted for them. Older, wiser, and hungry to win some gold they entered the pitch against Senegal hoping to prove their doubters wrong. Seeing England fall behind DR Congo and come back to win, Belgium figured to try and one-up them. For Senegal, it's been a wild time. They were stripped of their CAF African Cup of Nations Championship, failed to upset France as the team in 2002 did, and found themselves the masters of their own fate. Habib Diarra would give them a 1-0 lead when he would score in the 24th minute. Ismaila Sarr would double the lead in the 51st minute. Senegal looked to be in cruise control, and maintained their lead for the next 35 minutes. Enter Romelu Lukaku. One of the stars of Belgium's golden generation, Lukaku has been coming off the bench at the World Cup. His 86th minute strike would give Belgium life as they trailed 1-2. Youri Tielemans would strike just 3 minutes later to tie the match at 2 goals each. Belgium had found their groove and took the match to extra time. Both teams would struggle to find a goal from the run of play, but Belgium seemed to be sniffing a 3rd goal. They would earn their opportunity in the 2nd half of extra time. As the match was looking to go to penalty kicks, Lamine Camara would slide in the box and catch Youri Tielemans's ankle drawing a penalty for Belgium. Tielemans would fire a lob into the upper right corner of the left as Senegalese goalkeeper Mory Diaw would dive in the opposite direction. Game, set, and match as Belgium qualify for the Round of 16 where they await the winner of the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina. For Senegal, they can hold their heads high, but will always be haunted by what could have been.
No comments:
Post a Comment