Ismaïla Sarr scored and set up another goal as Senegal beat Iraq 5-0 and reached the Round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. For Crystal Palace, that meant Jean-Philippe Mateta stayed tied to a tournament run that now has all 12 of the club’s World Cup players in the knockout stage.
Sarr’s four-goal mark
The win carried a sharper edge for Sarr than the scoreline alone. He became Senegal’s outright leading scorer at the World Cup with four goals, and he also became the first Senegal player to both score and assist in a FIFA World Cup match.
That combination turned a routine group-stage result into a record night for Senegalese football. A player can score in a tournament and still leave little trace; Sarr did both jobs in the same game, and the numbers now place him alone at the top of Senegal’s World Cup scoring chart.
Crystal Palace’s World Cup week
The bigger club picture is still positive. All 12 Crystal Palace players involved in the 2026 FIFA World Cup have moved into the Round of 32, so the knockout phase will keep their tournament load alive rather than ending it after the group stage.
Several of those players already left a mark before Senegal’s latest result. Daichi Kamada scored two goals for Japan, Daniel Munoz scored two for Colombia, Jefferson Lerma played 90 minutes in both of Colombia’s games, Chris Richards played 90 minutes in the United States’ first two games, and Chadi Riad played 90 minutes in all three group-stage games for Morocco, which picked up seven points.
Pino’s injury
The problem inside the good news is Pino. Spain beat Uruguay 1-0 on Saturday morning, but Pino suffered what appeared to be a broken collarbone in that win, and Luis de la Fuente said he could miss the rest of the World Cup.
De la Fuente said: “Pino (could) miss the rest of the World Cup. It is a collarbone injury. We will do more scans tomorrow. He was suffering a lot, it was heroic that he helped us until the end of the game.” That leaves Crystal Palace with one clear setback amid the wider advance for the club’s players, and it puts Pino’s return in doubt while Senegal’s progress keeps Sarr and the rest moving on.
