Senegal crush Iraq 5–0 to reach World Cup last 32

Senegal smash Iraq 5–0, round of 16 secured

Your Lions are through. Senegal 5–0 Iraq on Friday night, and the job is done (1) (5). After two defeats that left the campaign hanging by a thread, the team delivered exactly when it mattered. Five goals, a clean sheet, and a place in the last 32. The performance was dominant from start to finish, exactly the response fans needed after the Norway loss.

Thiaw: the bench won this

Pape Thiaw pointed to his substitutes as the difference. "The substitutes came off the bench really well. The choices paid off," the head coach said after the match (3). He also told reporters the efforts were worth it after the team's tactical evolution across the group stage (5). Two defeats forced changes, and those changes worked.

France help Senegal's path by topping Group I

France beat a weakened Norway side on Friday evening to win Group I outright (11). That result confirms Senegal advance not by catching France or Norway, but as one of the best third-placed teams. The math is now settled. Portugal and England are also through from their groups, and the third-place rankings have cleared your path (9) (10).

Team photographer blocked from Canada, shoots match from a hotel TV

Senegal's official photographer Sidy Talla was denied a visa to enter Canada. So he did his job anyway, from a hotel room in the United States, photographing the 5–0 win off a television screen (2) (7). "Remote work for a photographer. On or off the pitch, the passion remains intact. No matter the setting, the desire to tell stories through images is always the same," Talla said (2). He posted a series of TV-screen shots that went viral overnight.