Tielemans Scores Latest World Cup Goal Ever as Belgium Rally Past
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- Youri Tielemans converted a penalty in the 125th minute, the latest goal ever scored in a World Cup match, completing Belgium's 3-2 comeback over Senegal after a foul awarded on video review in stoppage time of extra time.
- Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to score in the 86th minute and Tielemans equalized in the 89th, erasing a 2-0 Senegal lead built on goals by Habib Diarra (25th) and Ismaïla Sarr (51st), his fourth of the tournament.
- Belgium advances to the round of 16 for the third time in four tournaments and will face the United States on Monday in Seattle, having won its group with five points.
- Senegal coach Pape Thiaw declined to interpret the referee's penalty decision, calling the defeat 'cruel' and noting his side 'had the advantage' before Belgium's late rally; Senegal was without injured goalkeeper Édouard Mendy.
- Three people ran onto the field in the 32nd minute, briefly disrupting play at Lumen Field while Senegal led 1-0, with roughly a dozen security guards deployed and Belgium defender Maxim De Cuyper holding onto the ball.
- Belgium's rally is only the second time in the last 11 World Cups a team trailed by two or more goals in the knockout round and advanced — the first was Belgium itself, a 3-2 comeback win over Japan in the 2018 round of 16.
Why it matters: Belgium's late rally sets up a round-of-16 showdown with the United States and continues a remarkable pattern for this Belgian generation, which has now engineered two-goal knockout comebacks at back-to-back World Cups (2018 vs. Japan, now vs. Senegal). For Senegal, the loss extends a painful run of late-game collapses — coach Thiaw's team was on the wrong end of a stoppage-time penalty decision for the second time this year after the Africa Cup of Nations final controversy.
