Yerry Mina\u2019s second-half header sent Colombia into a potential last-16 tie with England at the World Cup at the expense of Senegal, who lost out to Japan having received more yellow cards.<\/p>\n
Senegal spent the final 20 minutes pushing for an equaliser which would have sent the African side through \u2013 Aliou Cisse\u2019s side were level with Japan in terms of points and goal difference, but crucially not yellow cards.<\/p>\n
Colombia had to win to be sure of their progress but with Poland beating Japan 1-0 in Volgograd, African representation at the World Cup was ended as Senegal failed to secure the point they needed.<\/p>\n
The South Americans will face the runners-up from Group G, which will be either England or Belgium, in Moscow on Tuesday, while Japan await the winners in Rostov-on-Don on Monday.<\/p>\n
Senegal thought they had been awarded a 16th-minute penalty after a tackle by Davinson Sanchez on Liverpool\u2019s Sadio Mane, but the decision was correctly overturned by Champions League final referee Milorad Mazic, with VAR showing the Tottenham defender clearly touched the ball with what was a risky challenge.<\/p>\n
Former England midfielder Danny Murphy, speaking on BBC One, called the tackle \u201cthe best of the tournament\u201d.<\/p>\n
Colombia\u2019s chances were dealt a blow just after the half-hour mark as James Rodriguez was forced off due to injury \u2013 having missed the first game with a calf problem \u2013 four years to the day since his stunning volley against Uruguay in the 2014 World Cup.<\/p>\n
But with Barcelona defender Mina\u2019s second consecutive goal from Juan Quintero\u2019s corner sending Colombia through as group winners, Senegal missed out having received two yellow cards more than Japan.<\/p>\n
Senegal coach Aliou Cisse:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cIt\u2019s the law of football. We didn\u2019t qualify because we\u2019ve earned more yellow cards, but I\u2019m proud of my lads, they\u2019ve worked hard for this tournament and I think we\u2019ve showed we can have a bright future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rules have been established by Fifa and we have to respect it, even though we would have liked to have been eliminated another way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the players knew all about it. I\u2019m not going to ask my players to go on the pitch and try to avoid being issued yellow cards. Football is a contact game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colombia coach Jose Pekerman:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cThere is no magic formula to football and one single answer to why one team beats another. I think we worked the set piece very well and that was not a coincidence as we have players who are excellent with their feet and with their head.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there were also some very worrying moments, especially in the first half, when Senegal played very well and it was tough for us to maintain our identity. We managed to defend successfully though, and they didn\u2019t create many goal scoring opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe match was tough because we couldn\u2019t get the necessary control in central midfield to enable us to feed the right kind of balls to Radamel Falcao. This was a very even group and you see that with Senegal, who had a very good tournament, going home. There was a lot of tension in the air today and, in that regard, I think my team did very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yerry Mina\u2019s second-half header sent Colombia into a potential last-16 tie with England at the World Cup at the expense of Senegal, who lost out to Japan having received more yellow cards. Senegal spent the final 20 minutes pushing for an equaliser which would have sent the African side through \u2013 Aliou Cisse\u2019s side were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","post_format-post-format-image"],"yoast_head":"\n