Senegal crushes Iraq 5-0 to keep World Cup hopes alive

Senegal stayed alive in its World Cup qualifying campaign with a dominant 5-0 win over Iraq on June 27, 2026, after knowing it needed both victory and a big goal margin to preserve its chances of advancing. The result came against 10-man Iraq and kept the runner-up from Africa in contention.

Abdoulaye Seck, the Maccabi Haifa defender, started the scoring by heading in from a corner, and Ismaila Sarr added both a goal and an assist. Senegal’s control was described as a “concert” as it overwhelmed an Iraq side that had advanced through the playoff but arrived with a 0-for-9 World Cup record.

Pape Gueye came off the bench to score twice, and in the 82nd minute he also set up Iliman Ndiaye, who then created Senegal’s fourth goal to close out the rout. The article highlighted the attacking contributions of Seck, Sarr and the bench impact of Gueye as the team’s decisive difference.

Senegal now has to hope other third-place teams with three points in the remaining groups do not finish with a better goal difference than its own plus-2. Iraq, meanwhile, was portrayed as a team trapped in the “group of death,” with little to lose but unable to compete with Senegal’s pace and finishing.