Senegal boosted their chances of reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup with a 5-0 victory against 10-man Iraq.
Senegal played a near-perfect game in Toronto as they looked to bounce back from defeats by France and Norway.
Senegal opened the scoring after only four minutes.
Seck’s header from a corner took a decisive deflection off Sunderland midfielder Habib Diarra on its way past Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil.
Referee Anthony Taylor sent off defender Rebin Sulaka for pulling down Sadio Mane at the edge of the penalty area – deeming it denial of a goalscoring opportunity after a video assistant referee review five minutes later.
They capitalised on former Manchester United midfielder Zidane Iqbal giving away possession at the edge of the box as Lamine Camara cut the ball back for Ismaila Sarr to apply a simple finish to make it 2-0 in the 56th minute.
Their lead was extended three minutes later as Pape Gueye curled a left-foot strike into the top corner.
Gueye added his second goal with another thunderous effort in the 71st minute before fellow substitute Iliman Ndiaye sealed the 5-0 win, that they would hope will be enough to send them through to the knockout stage.
The Lions of Teranga finished third in Group I with three points to climb to fifth among third-placed teams, but they will still need results elsewhere to go their way to secure a place in the last 32.
In other results in Group I, France beat Norway 4-1 to make it a flawless group campaign for the 2018 champions who had Ousmane Dembele scoring a hat-trick before Doue added a 4th in the closing stages.
The defeat means Norway face Ivory Coast in the Round of 32.
With five more groups to play, Senegal await with bated breath to discover their fate at the 2026 World Cup and how far they can go after a difficult campaign.
