Yerry Mina scored on a header in the 74th minute to give Colombia a 1-0 win over Senegal at the World Cup on Thursday, sending his team through to the Round of 16.
The win also eliminated Senegal, who suffered their first group stage loss in the country’s history.
Japan Advances on Tiebreaker Gamble
There were many possible advancement scenarios for Group H, where both Japan and Senegal had four points heading into the final day of matches, while Colombia had three.
Strangely, with advancement still in the balance, Japanese manager Akira Nishino made six changes to his lineup heading into their match with Poland, who had already been eliminated from contention. That included resting all four players who had scored for Japan so far in the tournament.
Those changes didn’t appear to pay off. After a scoreless first half, Jan Bednarek broke through for Poland in the 59th minute after being left unmarked on a free kick.
At that moment, Japan would have been out of the tournament. But the Colombia goal put them back into a level position with Senegal: both not only had the same number of points, but the same goal differential and number of goals scored. The two had also drawn their match against each other.
In previous World Cups, that might have meant a drawing of lots to determine who would go through to the knockout stage. But this year’s tournament has introduced fair play criteria as a final tiebreaker before resorting to a random selection.
With Japan having only four yellow cards compared to six for Senegal, the Japanese knew they would go through if the situation held. That led to a strange situation in the final minutes, where Japan took no risks despite trailing 1-0 and knowing that Senegal could put them out of the tournament with a late equalizer. No more goals were scored in either match, though, sending Japan to the knockout stage.
After the match, Nishino wouldn’t apologize for his decision to sit back and hope that Senegal wouldn’t eliminate Japan with a late goal in the other match, but he didn’t exactly seem proud of it, either.
“I am really not happy about how we played today,” he told reporters after the match. “We wanted to go through to the Round of 16 and we have, and that is the only salvation that I get.”
Like It or Not, Belgium Tops Group G
In contrast, Group G was largely decided even before Thursday’s matches. Both Belgium and England were guaranteed to go through, with the two only playing for first place – though many fans were rather open about their feelings that finishing second might be even better, given how the knockout bracket was shaking up.
On the field, however, both teams took their chances at goal and played for the win. Ultimately, Adnan Januzaj scored the only goal in the game, grabbing a 1-0 victory for Belgium.
Meanwhile, Tunisia took third place in the group with a consolation victory over Panama. While Panama struck first thanks to an own goal – the ninth of the tournament so far – by Yassine Meriah, second half scores by Fakhreddine Ben Youssef and Wahbi Khazri secured a win for the Tunisians.
In the end, there may not be much of an advantage for either Belgium or England based on where they landed. While Belgium is on the tougher side of the draw, they start with a match against Japan, who many will feel is one of the weakest teams to reach the knockout round. Meanwhile England may have avoided being on the same side of the bracket with Brazil, France, Argentina and Portugal, but they do face a tough Colombia side in their first elimination match.
William Hill sees little difference for the two sides, as both England and Belgium are listed at 7/1 odds to win the World Cup. Colombia (22/1) could see their odds shorten significantly if they get past England, while Japan have been given the longest odds of any squad still in the tournament at 200/1.