In Senegal, they dedicated the victory to Bubba Diop: "We wanted to commemorate him and fight for him" - Voila! FIFA World Cup

A messenger's report and voila!

Sports for Qatar, after Portugal's victory over Uruguay (photo: Paz Hasdai, editing: Nir Chen)

After winning the African Championship, the Senegal team recorded another huge achievement this evening (Tuesday) when they qualified for the round of 16 of the World Cup after a dramatic 1:2 against Ecuador.

After losing to the Netherlands in their opening game and beating weak Qatar, Senegal knew that only a win would get them into the last eight and that's exactly what they did.

Ismaila scored on a penalty towards the end of the first half, Moises Caissaud equalized in the 68th minute, but a minute and a half later Kalidou Koulibaly scored his first goal for the team and sent the Africans to the round of 16 from second place, when they will next meet the home team of England, the United States and Iran.

For the full World Cup broadcast schedule

Recap of Senegal's 1:2 victory over Ecuador courtesy of Kaan 11 - the official broadcaster of the 2022 World Cup. Live broadcasts, recaps, statistics and more await you on Kaan's World Cup page

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The moving tribute to Papa Bubba Diop (Photo: Reuters)

Kalidou Coulibaly came up with a special captain's armband dedicated to Papa Bouba Diop, one of the heroes of Senegal's achievement in 2002 who succumbed to illness two years ago.

At the end he said: "Diop is a special name for us Senegalese. It's his anniversary and we wanted to commemorate him and fight for him. It's a name that influenced our childhood and provided us with indescribable excitement. His loss hit us all hard."

what happiness

Senegal team players celebrate (Photo: Reuters)

the numbers

* Senegal returned to the round of 16 after 20 years.

Last time, in the first participation in its history in the World Cup where it also reached the quarter-finals, the current coach Elio Sissa was the captain.

* Sissa is the second African to do it as a coach and captain, after the Nigerian Stephan Keshi.

* This is the third time that the African champions manage to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Nigeria did it in 1994 and also in 2014, and now it's Senegal's turn.

* Ecuador is the second team in the history of the World Cup to be eliminated in the group stage despite winning the opening match.

It only happened in 1930, when France won their first match and were eliminated.

* Senegal is only the second team from Africa to win two matches in the group stage at the World Cup.

The only one that did it before it was Ghana in 2006.

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• Senegal national team

• Kalidou Coulibaly