Senegal deserved better than being eliminated on World Cup fair play rules

M’Baye Niang spent his time against Colombia playing as if he wanted to get a yellow card. I found myself yelling at him to calm down.

He needed to stay away from a caution for two reasons. One, because if he received a yellow, he would miss the next game if Senegal advanced. And two, because the Group H standings between Senegal, Japan, and Colombia were so tight, that simply getting a yellow might influence which team would be eliminated from the World Cup.

As fate would have it, Niang was booked a few minutes after the second half started, and then Poland beat Japan and Colombia beat Senegal, making Senegal the first team to ever be eliminated on fair play rules. World Cup rules state that if two teams have the same number of group stage points, the same goal differential, the same number of total goals, and played to a draw in their match together, the one that has fewer yellow cards advances. Because Senegal had six bookings to Japan’s four, Senegal is going home.

Colombia and Senegal would have both advanced if they had drawn, and for a while that looked like the likely final result. Both teams tested each other, but none of their chances seriously threatened the goalkeepers — Radamel Falcao had a few opportunities for Colombia, and a collection of Senegal players wasted great opportunities with tame shots. VAR denied Senegal what was initially called a penalty after Sadio Mane was seemingly fouled in the first half, and both teams narrowly avoided own goal scares.

Then Yerry Mina scored off a corner kick. The goal came right after Youssouf Sabaly was substituted, and there seemed to be some confusion among Senegal on who was supposed to mark who. The substitution took a long time as the medical staff evaluated Sabaly and tried to see if he could continue, and all that time meant that his replacement was running on the field and trying to find his position just as the corner was being played.

More than anything, it is disappointing to see a team like Senegal go out like this. Going into the game, Senegal needed to tie or win, and at first they were their typical adventurous selves. Then in the second half, they retreated, as if they were happy with the tie, even though they arguably had the advantage after Colombia lost James Rodriguez to injury late in the first half.

Colombia’s goal wasn’t a result of Senegal’s conservativeness — a collection of things simply went wrong at the perfect time for Colombia. But that conservative attitude was bizarre from a team that had been so entertaining with their combined defensive discipline, great passing, and attacking flair. They could have done much more to help themselves.

By the time Senegal decided to come out of their shells towards the end of the game, needing a goal to advance, it was much too late. Colombia were happy to goad them into fouls and waste time, and Senegal had to resort to long-balls.

Senegal’s elimination happened in the most anti-climatic way possible. Senegal weren’t knocked out in a goal fest, or in a match that was proportionally entertaining. They lost a hard-fought, but ultimately forgettable encounter.

And they were eliminated because of fair play. The true mark of Senegal’s disappointing World Cup wasn’t their desperation in those last few minutes, but Japan passing the ball around on defense and refusing to venture forward against Poland while down a goal, knowing that they would sneak through to Knockouts even with the loss.

Someone has to lose in any tournament, and many other entertaining teams have been eliminated in worse ways than Senegal were. But for so long they looked the best team in their group. Then on the last day, it all fell apart in the most un-Senegal of ways.