The Belgian national team traumatized its fans so much at the last World Cup that even the prospect of another World Cup celebration was greeted with anxiety by them. Let us recall that a very strong Belgian squad failed to advance from the group in Qatar, and Romelu Lukaku, with such persistence, did not convert his scoring chances, and later he saw those matches in terrifying nightmares. Unfortunately, the collective mindset of Belgium's players and fans led to new problems. Already in the first group-stage match, Roberto Martinez's men found themselves behind and had to come back in their match against Egypt, ending 1-1. Moreover, the lone goal against the North African side was scored by one of its own players. And this was not the end of Kevin De Bruyne and his teammates' troubles. Twenty-three shots at the Iranian goal did not yield a goal—0:0. The sole win in the relatively weak group came against New Zealand. Against the Oceania representative, Lukaku and his teammates dispelled all possible psychological barriers, from the long-awaited convincing victory to a goal by Romelu himself, who again was close to goalless despair. Before the start of the knockout stage, Belgium strongly resembles Germany, which in the group beat only the outsider, but due to overall inadequacy failed to progress past any knockout stage. Senegal arrived at the World Cup as a fairly respected footballing side. Sadio Mané and his teammates won the latest Africa Cup of Nations, but were stripped of the gold medals in court proceedings, which does not negate their practical achievement. Despite their considerable status, the Senegalese team lost their opening matches in the group to France and Norway. Moreover, at times the Africans outperformed their European opponents, but in class they were outmatched, conceding three goals to each of them. Advancing to the knockout rounds from third place thanks to a 5-0 win over Iraq, the Senegalese, it would seem, did not fail their tests against serious opponents. It is worth noting that both France and Norway look far better than Belgium in the tournament. Senegal won't lose the third consecutive duel against European opponents.