'Preparing for the rice harvest': Hong Myung-bo's team plummets to 7th place in the race for 3rd, casting a dark cloud over their path to the Round of 32... Senegal crushes Iraq 5-0 after Sulaka's red card

*This content was translated by AI.

With Senegal's decisive victory, the prospects for Hong Myung-bo's team to advance to the Round of 32 tournament have become even more dim.

On the 27th (Korea time), Senegal secured a 5-0 victory over Iraq in the final Group I match of the 2026 FIFA North, Central America and Caribbean World Cup group stage at Toronto Stadium in Ontario, Canada.

Senegal's high-scoring win has further disadvantaged Hong Myung-bo's team, which is competing for the 3rd-place 'wild card' spot. South Korea previously finished the group stage in 3rd place in Group A with 3 points and a goal difference of -1. To advance to the Round of 32, a team finishing 3rd in any of the 12th groups must rank within the top 8 among all 3rd-place teams. From South Korea's perspective, the needed scenarios were a draw between Senegal and Iraq, an Iraqi victory, or a Senegal win by just one goal.

However, Senegal's 5-goal victory, with a record of 1 win and 2 losses (3 points), significantly improved their goal difference to +2. Senegal leaped to 5th place among all 3rd-place teams across the groups. In contrast, South Korea dropped to 7th place.

Among all teams that have completed their group stage matches, only Scotland from Group C (3 points, goal difference -3) has a worse record than South Korea. With results from other groups still pending, South Korea must hope that at least four 3rd-place teams finish with records worse than theirs, but this is proving difficult.

On this day, Senegal took early control when Habib Diarra scored the opening goal in the 4th minute of the first half. The momentum shifted sharply in Senegal's favor in the 13th minute of the first half when Iraq defender Levan Sulaka, who previously played for FC Seoul in the K League, blocked a goal-scoring opportunity by Sadio Mané and received a direct red card after a video assistant referee (VAR) review.

With a numerical advantage, Senegal launched a relentless offensive in the second half. Ismaila Sarr added another goal in the 11th minute of the second half, and Pape Gueye scored consecutive goals in the 14th and 26th minutes. Iliman Ndiaye sealed the 5-0 victory with a late goal in the 37th minute of the second half.

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*This content was translated by AI.