Belgium completes stunning comeback to give Senegal worst kind of deja vu

Belgium will now face the winner of the game between the U.S Men's National Team and Bosnia and Herzegovina; Senegal, meanwhile, will head home.

Second verse, same as the first

This result is an especially galling one for Senegal, but not because of the game itself. It's galling because of it's tragic similarity to the 2025-26 Africa Cup of Nations final — a match Senegal won until it didn't.

That match, played on Moroccan soil against Morocco, saw Senegal fall victim to a serious of questionable refereeing calls, including a near-identical last-minute penalty decision. Senegal coach Pape Thiaw took his players off the field in protest of the call but eventually allowed them to return.

Morocco, under intense pressure, missed that penalty, and Senegal managed to win the game in extra time. But Thiaw's decision to remove his players from the field wound up expunging the result and handing Morocco a 3-0 win on a technicality.

Thiaw wasn't about to remove his players in this World Cup fixture against Belgium; he knew the consequences would be too great. But he'd be forgiven for raging against the deja vu of the situation. Questionable last-second penalty calls simply aren't supposed to happen...but for Senegal, they've happened twice in quick succession.

A weighty result for the USMNT

The USMNT is set to face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final match of the day on Wednesday. The winner of that match was always set to play the winner of the Belgium-Senegal match in the next round — and that means both teams will enter their fixture knowing they've got Belgium coming in the future.

For the USMNT, that means something. The team played Belgium in March 2026 and lost 5-2 in genuinely embarrassing style. It also played Belgium in the Round of 16 of the 2014 World Cup — a match in which goalkeeper Tim Howard set a World Cup record for number of saves — and eventually lost in extra time.

Belgium is a serious opponent — and a scary one for the USMNT. But facing it will give the team the opportunity to exorcise two of its greatest recent embarrassments in one shot.

It's a fascinating opportunity for the USMNT — but it's a shame it came through such heartbreaking circumstances for Senegal.