FIFA World Cup 2018: Six yellow cards mean a send-off for Senegal from the tournament

Under the system, a yellow card counts as minus one point, while an indirect red is minus three. A direct red card would cost four points. With two fewer yellow cards, Japan’s tally of minus-four points was two better than Senegal. As a result, the Asian side sneaked into the last 16.

The drama

With just 16 minutes remaining in the match, Japan were heading home. Jan Bednarek scored his first international goal in the 60th minute for the already eliminated Polish team, the score between Colombia and Senegal stood at 0-0 meaning Japan were going out.

Coach Akira Nishino had made six changes to his side, giving rest to all his key players. The move nearly backfired, though. As the seconds ticked, Japan got restless. They got behind the Polish defence multiple times but the all-important goal remained elusive.

As things stood, Senegal were leading the group while Colombia were second. But Japan were handed a lifeline when Colombia scored in the 74th minute. Yerry Mina’s 74th minute header from Juan Fernando Quintero’s corner propelled Colombia, who were third going into the game, to the top spot. The pressure was now on Senegal, who merely needed a draw to go through.

Japan booed off

However, as the news filtered of Yerry Mina’s goal in the Colombia-Senegal match, the match between Japan and Poland changed for worse. The strike meant Colombia would win the group and Japan were ahead of Senegal despite identical points, goal difference and goals scored, because they had received fewer yellow cards.

A cacophony of boos rang out as hardly any tackles were made in the last 10 minutes as Japan decided not to risk any yellow cards while Poland kicked around in search for the winner.

Nishino, the Japanese coach, said he passed on clear instructions to the rest of the team — no risks and no yellow cards. “We did not go for victory but we just relied on the other match,” Nishino said. “That was slightly regrettable but I suppose at that point I didn’t have any other plans. I am really not happy about how we played today but…we wanted to go through to the round of 16 and we have, and that is the only salvation that I get.”

A shame: Senegal coach

Senegal coach Aliou Cisse said his team’s commitment to producing winning performances ultimately costly them dear. The defeat to Colombia was Senegal’s first in the Group Stage – they were unbeaten in the early round during their first appearance back in 2002 and had drawn one and won one before Thursday’s match in this edition. Cisse said it was a ‘shame’ his side had to exit the World Cup like this. “It’s a shame that this has worked against us,” Cisse said. “These are the laws of the game of football. We haven’t qualified because of fair play. We have fewer points in fair play and Senegal has not qualified because we don’t deserve it.”

Cisse said they had been well aware of the rules and that they had to be respected. “Of course, we would have preferred to be eliminated in another way. It’s a sad for us but we knew these were the regulations. We were fully committed and maybe because we were fully committed, we got more yellow cards.”