Senegal defeated Qatar to become the first African team to win the 2022 World Cup match.
Qatar vs Senegal: 3-1
Qatar is on the edge of departing the World Cup after falling to Senegal 3-1 at the Al Thumama Stadium on Friday (Nov 25), despite Mohammed Muntari scoring Qatar’s first-ever World Cup finals goal.
If the Netherlands wins or draws against Ecuador, who beat Qatar in the tournament’s opening game, later on Friday, the Qataris will be the first team completely eliminated from the competition.
Qatar immediately came to grips with Senegal, and they should have had a penalty when Ismaila Sarr bundled over Akram Afif, but Spanish referee Antonio Mateu waved aside their appeals and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) did not interfere.
Senegal needed either a moment of magic or a terrible mistake to break the deadlock, and sadly for Qatar defender Boualem Khoukhi, it turned out to be the latter.
Krepin Diatta’s attempt to clear a routine low pass into the box went disastrously wrong, as he went to ground without making proper contact with the ball.
Dia jumped on Khoukhi’s weak shot, and the 26-year-old striker needed no second invitation to bang the ball in at the near post to give Senegal the lead.
With the Qatari fans decreasing at the start of the second half, Famara Diedhou extended Senegal’s lead in the 48th minute with a wonderful glancing header from an Ismail Jakobs corner.
Muntari reduced the deficit to one in the 78th minute with a bullet header from Ismail Mohamad’s cross, but Senegal substitute Bamba Dieng blasted home his side’s third to drop Qatar to the bottom of Group A with 0 points, while their group rivals all have three.
