Édouard Mendy redeems himself as Senegal beat Qatar; Iran surprise Wales; Netherlands held

Friday’s main event is obviously England versus the United States of America, kicking off shortly, but before then, three more games were played at the 2022 World Cup, and one of those certainly made for some happy viewing in Chelsea terms, as Édouard Mendy ensured Senegal’s 3-1 win over host nation Qatar.

There had been some suggestions that Mendy could be dropped by head coach Aliou Cissé after a not so good performance in Senegal’s opening match defeat to the Netherlands, but the Chelsea man kept his place and justified that decision with at least one stupendous reaction save, which, at the time, preserved a 2-0 advantage.

While Qatar would get one back (nothing Mendy could do about that header) to set up a potential grandstand finish, Senegal quickly restored their two-goal lead and collected the much-needed three points.

Those three points put them back firmly in the thick of the action in Group A, with the Netherlands failing to take care of business against Ecuador.

Their 1-1 draw means that it’s all to play for on the final matchday in the group, with Senegal taking on the surprising worst qualifier from South America, where Enner Valencia’s having a World Cup to remember, leading the charts with three goals already to his name (i.e. every goal that they’ve scored so far).

Meanwhile, in Group B, Wales practically threw away their chance of qualifying for the knockout rounds with a poor performance and two late goals conceded to a much-improved Iran (by which time Ethan Ampadu had been subbed off).

Wales had earned a solid 1-1 draw against the US in their first game, and with neither team expected to beat England, the result against Iran was seen as the determining factor as to who would advance alongside the Three Lions.

Instead, Iran are back in the conversation while the US have a fantastic opportunity to get into the knockout rounds. Of course, they will have to not do what Wales did today...