How Senegal seized last 3rd-place spot to advance to World Cup Round of 32 with just 3 points in group stage

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Senegal dropped its first two matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Despite that, they're moving on to the Round of 32. They're the only team advancing to the knockout stages with just 3 points in the group stage.

Turns out, Senegal knew how to finish.

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How did Senegal advance?

The key was that Senegal was the only team with 3 points that had a positive goal differential.

Iran drew three times and so had a zero goal difference. South Korea's goal differential was negative with its 3 points.

But for Senegal, they had a plus-2 goal differential.

That's mostly because on Friday, they bashed Iraq, 5-0.

Iraq had a player sent off, and Senegal took full advantage, not taking their foot off the gas.

They surely knew they needed to run up the score to have a chance, and so that's what they did.

It turned out to be just enough.

Just one more result would've flipped everything for Senegal, but in the end, Sadio Mane and company move on.