For 85 minutes, everything that could go wrong for Belgium did go wrong. Habib Diarra scored in the 25th minute, tapping in after Sarr’s header hit the post. Ismaïla Sarr made it 2-0 in the 51st minute, racing onto a long ball and blasting past Thibaut Courtois.
The Belgian fans in Seattle were silent. The Senegalese supporters were dancing. The golden generation — the team that finished third in 2018, the team of De Bruyne and Courtois and Lukaku — was going out in the Round of 32. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
And then came the 70th minute. The argument. Tielemans and Trossard, captain and winger, screaming at each other during a cooling break. It was ugly. It was public. It was the kind of moment that makes you think a team is finished.
The Resurrection
But here is the thing about this Belgium team. They have been through too much together to let one argument define them.
The 86th minute. Thomas Meunier, on as a substitute, sends a low cross into the box. Lukaku, the big man who had been brought on at half-time, gets there first. 1-2. A lifeline.
The 89th minute. Trossard, the man who had been screaming at his captain, swings in a cross from the left. The goalkeeper comes and misses. Tielemans, the captain who had been on the receiving end of Trossard’s fury, rises and heads the ball home. 2-2.
And then they embrace. The two men who had been at war are now at peace. The goal that saved Belgium was scored by the captain, assisted by the man he had just been fighting with. You cannot write this stuff.
The Penalty
Extra time was torture. Thirty minutes of exhaustion, of cramping muscles, of desperate defending and desperate attacking. Both teams were running on fumes. Courtois made saves he had no right to make. Lukaku missed chances he should have scored. The match crawled toward penalties.
Then, in the 120th minute, Tielemans drove into the box. A Senegalese defender lunged. Contact. The referee pointed to the spot.
What followed was chaos. Senegalese players surrounded the referee. One of them lay down on the penalty spot in protest. The delay lasted five minutes. Five minutes for Tielemans to stand there, alone, with the weight of a nation on his shoulders.
He placed the ball. He ran up. He scored.
124 minutes and 44 seconds. The latest winning goal in World Cup history. Belgium 3-2 Senegal.
The Aftermath
The Belgian players collapsed in exhaustion and joy. The Senegalese players collapsed in despair. Football is cruel. It gives and it takes away in the same breath.
Belgium will face the United States in the Round of 16. The golden generation lives on. After what they survived in Seattle, they will believe they can survive anything.
For Senegal, there is only heartbreak. They led for 86 minutes. They were the better team for most of the match. But the better team does not always win. The team that refuses to die does.
And Belgium, on this night in Seattle, refused to die.
