Senegal became the first African country to qualify to the knockout phase of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after seeing off group opponent Ecuador in a winner-take-all encounter on Tuesday.
Captain Kalidou Koulibaly volleyed home the winner for the Lions of Tarenga late in the second half to add to Ismaila Sarr’s first half penalty.
The centre-back scored three minutes after Moises Caicedo had pulled parity for the South American side to bring the score at 1-1.
In a must-win match for the African champions, Senegal took the lead after a first-half penalty by Ismaila Sarr before Caicedo equalized for Ecuador in the 67th minute.
At 1-1, the advantage tilted the way of south Americans to advance from Group A and Senegal would have been eliminated.
But it wasn’t to be as Senegal’s captain took matters into his own hands to ensure his side regain their lead and eventually booked a place in the next round of the competition.
Meanwhile the Netherlands, in the other group A fixture beat host nation Qatar 2-0 to secure the top spot in the group. Senegal finished second while Ecuador and Qatar were eliminated.
Senegal last advanced from the group stage of a world cup was in 2002 in Korea/Japan, when the team reached the quarterfinals in its tournament debut.
