FIFA World Cup 2026: Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr makes history in R32 clash against Belgium

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 Senegal and Crystal Palace star Ismaila Sarr made history during his side’s FIFA World Cup round of 32 match against Belgium, becoming the joint-highest goal scorer from an African nation during a single FIFA World Cup campaign.

Sarr gave Senegal a lead in the 24th minute, which was doubled just a few minutes into the second half. But a fantastic effort from Romelu Lukaku and Youri Thielemans took the match to extra time, where the latter nailed a historic penalty to secure a round of 16 spot for Belgium.

Sarr, 28, has scored four goals in the tournament so far, which is the joint-most by an African in a single FIFA WC edition, along with four by Cameroon’s Roger Milla in the 1990 edition, as per OptaJoe.

After Habib Diarra (24th minute) and Ismaila Sarr (51st minute) scored and another giant seemed to be on its way out, Romelu Lukaku (86th minute) and Tielemans (89th minute) changed the course of the game, taking it to extra time.

Tielemans took the penalty after the VAR review awarded his team one for Lamine Camara’s foul on Tielemans, sealing one of the tournament’s most dramatic victories and rewriting the World Cup record books. His winning penalty in the 124th minute and 44th second broke the previous timeline records for late game-winners, becoming the latest goal ever scored in FIFA World Cup history.

Despite the defeat, Senegal also achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first African nation to score 10 goals in a single edition of the FIFA World Cup.

Now Belgium will face the USA, who beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0, in the round of 16 clash at Seattle on June 7.

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