This has been the second World Cup finals tournament for which Senegal have qualified. At their first tournament in they surprised everyone by reaching the Quarter Finals.. In this year's tournament they made their mark in another, less satisfactory, way.
It is straightforward to decide a single game that is equal by having a penalty shoot-out, it is not so simple in the four-team Group Stage. But what happens when two teams have the same points from the three results, drew with each other, and have scored and let in the same number of goals?
While it sounds a little unlikely, this scenario over three games in a low scoring sport with fairly equal teams is not that strange and nearly happened in a couple of groups. And it DID happen in Senegal's group.
In such a case FIFA decided this time that the next determining factor would be yellow and red cards. In this first use of that deciding system the team that was eliminated by the rule was Senegal who had accumulated two more cards to Japan. A first!
It is straightforward to decide a single game that is equal by having a penalty shoot-out, it is not so simple in the four-team Group Stage. But what happens when two teams have the same points from the three results, drew with each other, and have scored and let in the same number of goals?
While it sounds a little unlikely, this scenario over three games in a low scoring sport with fairly equal teams is not that strange and nearly happened in a couple of groups. And it DID happen in Senegal's group.
In such a case FIFA decided this time that the next determining factor would be yellow and red cards. In this first use of that deciding system the team that was eliminated by the rule was Senegal who had accumulated two more cards to Japan. A first!
A classic example, then, of the life truth that little sins can grow into big consequences.
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