When trailing 0 2, Trossard and Tielemans almost came to blows, but 20 minutes later they combined to equalize against Senegal.

In the 69th minute, Seattle. Belgium trailed 0-2 to Senegal, less than twenty minutes from elimination.

Tielemans sent a cross flying beyond the byline, and Trossard lashed out with a gesture of frustration. When the water break whistle blew, the two squared off face-to-face, shouting at each other. Lukaku rushed over to pull them apart, substitute Raskin ran in to mediate, and even a Senegalese player stepped in to calm things down.

0-2. Two of your players nearly came to blows on live TV.

Quarrel aside. The game had to go on.

In the 86th minute, Meunier crossed from the right, and Lukaku latched onto it to score. 1-2.

It was the 33-year-old Lukaku's sixth World Cup goal. He officially surpassed Wilmots' record of five, becoming Belgium's all-time leading World Cup scorer.

Three minutes later, Trossard sent a diagonal cross, and Tielemans leaped high to head the ball in.

2-2.

The two who nearly came to blows in the 69th minute completed the most decisive link-up of the entire match in the 89th. After the goal, they embraced, smiling.

The extra time was drawing to a close. Lukébakio's shot hit the crossbar, prompting a VAR review. It ruled that Senegal's Lamine Camara had stepped on Tielemans during the play without making contact with the ball.

Penalty.

Tielemans stepped up and converted it. 124 minutes and 44 seconds. The latest goal in World Cup history.

The man who had nearly come to blows with a teammate just 90 minutes earlier had dragged the entire team back from the brink.

Tielemans faced the microphones after the match and simply said: "Part of football."

Head coach Garcia's first reaction at the press conference was neither relief nor trepidation.

He said in French: "My players have the right to shout at each other, to disagree with each other. That makes me happy. It proves we are a living team."

Garcia took over Belgium a year and a half ago, his first national team head coaching job. He said he always believed in the quality of these players when he arrived, adding, "Tonight, we wrote history."

A wily old French fox. His team was down 0-2, teammates nearly came to blows, and rather than dousing the flames, he packaged it as a cultural manifesto.

Teams that don't argue are dead.

The bet's final card was laid on the table in the 56th minute.

Trailing 0-2, Garcia substituted De Bruyne and Doku off at the same time. The two most expensive cards, both tossed away simultaneously.

If Belgium had been eliminated, it would have been the most foolish tactical move in World Cup history. But it paid off. Football doesn't care about decision-making PowerPoints; it only cares where the ball rolls.

Garcia's philosophy could only come to fruition thanks to Lukaku.

Coming off the bench in the 56th minute, the 33-year-old veteran did everything: pulling apart teammates about to fight during the water break, scoring a poacher's goal in the 86th minute, and then acting as the spiritual captain on the pitch for over ten minutes.

A coach couldn't script this. A veteran who has been through enough big games was using his final World Cup window to clean up everyone's mess.

Another remark from Garcia's post-match press conference spread widely. He said in English: "We know that type of team: they lose their tactical structure at the end of the game."

Many interpreted the phrase "that type of team" as a stereotype of African teams. Garcia's camp explained that he was simply describing a team that chose to drop deep and defend for dear life.

Whether that explanation clears his name is another matter. But he wasn't wrong about one thing: Senegal's xG in regular time was 2.46, while Belgium's was only 0.92. They indeed created more and better chances, but their defense crumbled during extra time.

Senegal's true collapse was set before the match even started.

Pape Gueye released a statement on Instagram after the game: "As long as this coaching staff remains, I'm suspending my national team career."

This went far beyond simple post-match emotional venting. It was pure structural breakdown.

Head coach Pape Bouna Thiaw has been without a contract since February and is five months owed in wages. CAF banned him for five matches and fined him $100,000 due to the chaos of the AFCON final. The relationship between players and the coaching staff has long had nothing to do with tactics.

The teammate squabble in Belgium—over whether to cross or pass on the ground—and the locker room in Senegal—plagued by unpaid wages, no contract, and public severed ties—are completely different species of internal conflict.

The ledger of competitive sports is pragmatic: winning fights are called grit; losing fights are called collapses.

Idrissa Gueye was on this Senegalese team. Last November at Old Trafford in the Premier League, he was sent off for slapping his teammate Keane on the pitch, yet ten-man Everton won 1-0 against Manchester United.

Today, he watched the Belgians argue, and then his own team lost the game.

July 2, 2018, Rostov-on-Don. Belgium trailed 0-2 to Japan; Chadli scored the winner in the 94th minute, 3-2.

July 1, 2026, Seattle. Belgium trailed 0-2 to Senegal; Tielemans scored the winner in the 124th minute, 3-2.

Two knockout matches, the exact same scoreline. The script of coming from two goals down to win 3-2, identical.

Only this time, there was an extra chapter of near-fisticuffs beforehand.