Both sides knew that if they suffered defeat in Doha, and Ecuador and the Netherlands drew later on, they would bow out of the 2022 World Cup, but the African side kept their nerve, winning 3-1 with Mendy making a couple of very good saves.

Senegal made two changes, with Famara Diedhiou coming into the side to add some more attacking impetus given they lacked a cutting edge in the final third in their opening match against the Dutch.

The same couldn’t be said this afternoon in the Qatari capital. The Lions of Teranga started the better side and the breakthrough eventually came for the African side on the 40-minute mark, with No.9 Boulaye Dia scoring his fourth goal for his nation.

He finished emphatically after a calamitous error from Al Sadd’s Boualem Khoukhi, who miskicked a clearance straight into the path of the striker.

They needed just one attack in the second half to double their advantage, with Bristol City striker Diedhiou glancing a fine header into the back of the net from an out-swinging corner.

Qatar eventually registered their first shot on target of the tournament after 150 minutes of football when Almoez Ali forced the Chelsea keeper into a fingertip save.

Qatar’s best pattern of play of the World Cup then came moments later. Mendy was forced to produce another splendid save to deny Ismail Mohamad. He was wrong-footed but got a strong palm on a flicked effort, which looked destined to bulge the net.

The hosts then scored their first World Cup goal courtesy of a bullet header from captain Mohammed Muntari, but their celebrations were short lived as Bamba Dieng regained a two-goal cushion for Aliou Cisse’s men with a neat right-footed finish from 12 yards.

Qatar now need to beat the Netherlands to avoid being the first-ever host nation to fail to win a group stage match.

Senegal face Ecuador in their final group game with every possibility of progressing.

Crushing defeat for Wales

Earlier on Friday in a dramatic game at the Al-Rayyan Stadium, Wales lost 2-0 to Iran with both goals scored in stoppage time. It severely dents Welsh hopes of qualification from Group B.

The first half was a tense and tight affair with the magnitude of the fixture clearly weighing on both sets of players. Ethan Ampadu was his usual busy self in the middle of the pitch, where much of the game was contested.

Kieffer Moore, in the Wales starting XI after his impact off the bench against USA, drew the first good save with an acrobatic volley.

Iran, much improved from their defeat to England, thought they had gone ahead midway through the first half when Ali Gholizadeh finished a neat move, but a VAR check showed he had strayed offside before tapping the ball into the net.

Iran continued to look the brighter side when play restarted and they were incredibly unfortunate not to take the lead in the 51st minute, hitting both posts with separate efforts and then drawing a super stop from Wayne Hennessey.

Wales weathered the storm and, with the help of a couple of attacking subs, tried to seize the initiative. One dangerous Ampadu cross had Moore and Gareth Bale in the middle applauding despite not being able to get on the end of it. Ampadu then raced back the length of the pitch to get a block in after Wales had ceded possession cheaply.

Ampadu, arguably Wales’ best player on the day, was replaced by Joe Allen in the 77th minute.

Hennessey was sent off with a little under five minutes remaining for a dangerous challenge on Mehdi Taremi a long way out of his goal. Wales tried to dig in and even showed some attacking intent in the nine minutes added on, but Iran snatched the victory with two goals right at the end.

The first was a thunderous 20-yard strike from Rouzbeh Cheshmi, and the second in the 102nd minute a smart finish from Ramin Rezaeian as Wales poured men forward. They will have to beat England on Tuesday to stand any chance of making it through to the last 16.