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Senegal etched their names in history books as they became the first-ever African team to score five goals in a FIFA World Cup match.
Senegal crushed Iraq by 5-0 in Toronto on Friday and ended their opponents' hopes of reaching the later stage of the tournament. It was a do-or-die encounter, with both sides requiring a win, preferably by a sizeable margin, to stay in the running for one of the final eight spots in the round of 32. Ismaila Sarr also became the first Senegal player to both score and provide an assist in a FIFA World Cup match, while also becoming the nation's outright top scorer in World Cup history with four goals, as per OptaJoe. Sarr, Pape Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye all scored and provided assists for Senegal, marking the first time three players from the same team achieved this in a FIFA World Cup match since Germany's 7-1 victory over Brazil in 2014 (Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira and Thomas Muller). Ndiaye also became the first ever player in FIFA World Cup history to come on as a substitute and then score a goal, assist a goal, have five touches in the opposition box and make five dribbles. Senegal made a flying start, opening the scoring in just the fourth minute when Abdoulaye Seck's header from a corner took a decisive deflection off Sunderland midfielder Habib Diarra, wrong-footing Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil. Iraq's task became significantly harder nine minutes later when defender Rebin Sulaka was shown a straight red card after pulling back Sadio Mane on the edge of the box, with the decision confirmed following a VAR review for denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity. Mane tested Basil from the resulting free-kick, but Senegal were unable to add a second goal in the first half despite their numerical advantage. The breakthrough eventually came in the 56th minute after Zidane Iqbal was dispossessed on the edge of his own box, allowing Lamine Camara to set up Ismaila Sarr for a simple finish to make it 2-0. Three minutes later, Senegal extended their lead spectacularly as substitute Pape Gueye curled a stunning left-foot strike into the top corner with his first involvement after coming on. Gueye struck again in the 71st minute with a powerful long-range effort to complete a quickfire brace, before another substitute, Iliman Ndiaye, added the fifth to round off a commanding performance. The result leaves Senegal in a strong position to progress, with its superior goal difference potentially proving decisive in the race for qualification. (ANI)
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