World Cup 2018: Kouyate and Senegal suffer elimination heartbreak

Kouyate

Cheikhou Kouyate and his Senegal side suffered a heartbreaking elimination from the 2018 World Cup following a 1-0 defeat to Colombia in the final game of Group H. 

The West Ham midfielder made his first start of the tournament for his nation, playing the full 90 minutes in the fixture at the Samara Arena. 

However a 79th minute effort from Colombia defender Yerry Mina was enough to hand Senegal their only defeat of the competition. 

Unfortunately for the 28-year-old and his international teammates, the result means they are out of the World Cup, losing out on second place to Japan, who qualify by virture of fair play. 

Both Senegal and Japan finished Group H on four points, and have both scored four goals and conceded four goals. The next method of determining who qualifies falls to the number of bookings each side has received. Senegal picked up six bookings in their three matches while Japan collected just four. 

The result is a devestating end to the World Cup for Senegal, who won their first World Cup Group H game 2-1 against Poland, before drawing 2-2 with Japan.