Why Scotland have not been eliminated from World Cup after Senegal win

Scotland’s wait to find out their World Cup fate will drag on longer, despite Senegal’s victory over Iraq dropping them into the bottom four third-place teams.

The latter of those results left them on the brink of elimination, but their third-place finish in Group C meant their fate would be decided by others.

Senegal’s victory over Iraq today, during which Ismaila Sarr and Iliman Ndiaye scored in a 5-0 drubbing, was damaging to their chances, but is not quite a hammer blow.

That leaves Scotland as one of the worst four third-placed finishers, but their wait to discover whether they will progress to the round of 32 will continue.

They are joined in the proverbial drop zone by Belgium, DR Congo, and Cape Verde, all of whom have yet to play their final group stage fixture and could still finish beneath the Scots.

Above Scotland in the standings are Algeria and Croatia, who could also end up below Scotland in the standings should they lose their final matches against Austria and Ghana, respectively, by a heavy scoreline.

Scotland’s chances of moving on remain minimal, but there is at least some glimmer of hope heading into the final day of group stage football that they could scrape a round of 32 berth.