Senegal became the first team to be knocked out of the World Cup on the fair play rule earlier today (June 28, 2018). The Teranga Lions lost 1-0 to Colombia in Samara and Japan’s loss by the same score to already eliminated Poland in Volgograd left both the sides on four points each.
Tiebreakers
Points in all games:- Senegal (4), Japan (4)
Goal Difference:- Senegal (0), Japan (0)
Goals For:- Senegal (4), Japan (4)
Head to Head Points, Goal Difference and Goals for:- All equal because of the Senegal 2-2 Japan game
With these six equal, it went to the Fair-Play tiebreaker
Japan had collected four yellow cards in their three games. Senegal had collected six, which saw Japan progress.
If the two teams had been equal on this aspect as well, we would’ve needed a coin flip to decide who progressed.