World Cup Now: Senegal's win over Ecuador a tremendous achievement

Senegal pulled off one of the surprises of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday, defeating Ecuador 2-1 to advance to the knockout stage.

While losing the possession battle to Ecuador, Senegal appeared to have a tighter grip on the match, firing off 14 total shots to Ecuador's nine. It took a 1-0 lead late in the first half when Ismaïla Sarr capitalized on a penalty kick.

Needing a win to advance, Senegal's hopes of moving onto the knockout stage took a brief hit when Moisés Caicedo scored off a corner kick for Ecuador to make it 1-1 in the 67th minute. However, Kalidou Koulibaly scored on a set piece just three minutes later to give Senegal the lead once again and ultimately, the win.

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Former USMNT players DaMarcus Beasley, Jimmy Conrad and Sacha Kljestan shared their thoughts on Senegal's performance on "World Cup Now."

Beasley: "We were all wrong."

This game shows exactly how good [Senegal is]. In the pregame, I said that I thought they needed to trust themselves a bit more, they needed to play it and not be so direct and look for the long ball. They played today, and they were on the front foot. From counter-pressing to defending to everything they did, they were first to every ball, every second ball. I think they really deserved this result. This was all Senegal, and they did it for all 90 minutes. From the first minute to the 90th minute — they were all over Ecuador.

Kljestan: Senegal's moment much like USA's

I'm thinking, I could only imagine what's going on in Senegal right now. Whenever I think of just iconic moments in the World Cup, the biggest one for me is Landon [Donovan's] goal against Algeria [in 2010] and I always reference that. Is this goal by Koulibaly their moment right now, making it to the knockout round? Ecuador thought they were good getting the tie. Then he came in and smashes this one in, and it's just like, euphoria again. It's awesome.

Conrad: Much respect to Senegal's manager, Aliou Cissé

He had to figure out a way to have success without his best player and the best player in all of Africa. I thought they did it with some real style and competed in every single game, even against Holland up until the 82nd minute when they gave up two goals. I actually chalk that up to Édouard Mendy, their goalkeeper, making uncharacteristic errors. Once they cleaned that up against Qatar and they played well defensively tonight outside of one set piece, they demonstrated why they were the African Cup of Nations Champions.

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