Senegal knew a big win was needed, and they delivered with a 5-0 rout of Iraq to edge closer to the last 32 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Senegal boosted their chances of reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup after thumping 10-man Iraq 5-0 at Toronto Stadium in their final Group I clash.
Pape Gueye‘s extraordinary strikes in the second half followed goals from Habib Diarra and Ismaïla Sarr, while Iliman Ndiaye added a stunner of his own eight minutes from time.
They currently sit fifth in the best third-placed teams table, and as it stands, a potential World Cup reunion with England awaits in Atlanta on July 1 in the next round.
Senegal made the perfect start in the fourth minute when Idrissa Gueye’s deflected shot went out for a corner, with the resulting set-piece seeing Abdoulaye Seck’s header turned past Ahmed Basil by Diarra from close range.
It went from bad to worse for Iraq nine minutes later when Rebin Sulaka was handed a straight red card for tugging back Sadio Mané and denying a goalscoring opportunity.
But Senegal were unable to make their man advantage count ahead of half-time, with Mane seeing the free-kick he won pushed behind by Basil before the former Liverpool forward fired an effort over the crossbar in the first minute of stoppage time.
Pape Thiaw’s side flew out of the traps after the restart and got their second in the 56th minute. Zidane Iqbal had his pocket picked by Lamine Camara, with the Senegal midfielder powering into the penalty area before squaring for Sarr to score.
And just three minutes later, Senegal pulled further clear after a piece of individual brilliance from Gueye, who flashed a stunning left-footed finish into the top-left corner just one minute and 29 seconds after replacing Diarra.
But Gueye added another sensational strike to his tally in the 71st minute with another fierce drive past the hapless Jalal Hassan, and Ndiaye capped the five-star rout with a rifled shot in at the near post from just outside the box.
Following back-to-back defeats to France and Norway, Senegal knew that a top-two finish in Group I was beyond their reach, but with the possibility of reaching the knockout stages still within their hands, they delivered the perfect performance to improve those hopes
This was the first time an African nation has ever scored five goals at a World Cup, and it was Senegal’s big-name players who came to the fore. Sarr is now the outright top scorer (four goals) and has recorded the outright most goal involvements for his nation in the World Cup (five -four goals, one assist)
He also became the first Senegal player to both score and assist in a World Cup match, though he was quickly followed by Gueye and Ndiaye in achieving that.
Gueye had started both of Senegal’s first two group games but was dropped to the bench against Iraq. He responded in the perfect way, staking his claim for a starting spot in the next round by becoming the first player from Senegal to score at least two goals as a substitute at the World Cup
But Ndiaye also made his mark off the bench. There have been four instances of a Senegal player coming on as a substitute to provide an assist at the World Cup, with three being the Everton midfielder. His three assists as a substitute are also the joint-most of any player at the World Cup, along with Cesc Fabregas
Senegal were deserving winners, too. They finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 3.03 from their 28 shots to Iraq’s 0.18 from their six attempts.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Senegal vs Iraq stats from their 2026 FIFA World Cup Group I meeting at Toronto Stadium on 26 June
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Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
- Senegal the first African team in history to score five goals in a FIFA World Cup match.
- Senegal recorded the biggest ever victory at the FIFA World Cup by an African nation and their biggest ever win in a major tournament (AFCON/World Cup).
- Iraq have now lost all six of their matches at the FIFA World Cup, the joint-most games played of any nation with a 100% loss rate in the competition along with El Salvador and Haiti (Panama – 5 before MD3).
- Senegal recorded their first clean sheet at the FIFA World Cup since their first ever game at the finals versus France in 2002 (1-0) – it ends a run of 13 matches without a shutout in the competition.
- Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye all scored and assisted in this match – it is the first time a team had three players do so in a FIFA World Cup match since Germany in their 7-1 win over Brazil in 2014 (Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, Thomas Müller).
- Ismaïla Sarr is now the outright top scorer (4 goals) and has recorded the most goal involvements for Senegal at the FIFA World Cup (5 – 1 assist). He is the second Senegalese player to score three goals at a single FIFA World Cup alongside Papa Bouba Diop in 2002.
- Pape Gueye is the second African player to score twice in a FIFA World Cup match as a substitute after Cameroon’s Roger Milla, who did so twice in 1990 (vs Romania and Colombia).
- Sunderland have now had five different goalscorers at the 2026 FIFA World Cup (Habib Diarra, Brian Brobbey, Granit Xhaka, Wilson Isidor and Nilson Angulo) – the only English clubs to have more different scorers at a single edition of the tournament are Tottenham Hotspur in 2018 and Manchester United in 2014 (6 each).
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