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Football London
Football London
Sport
Kieran Horn

England vs Senegal last 16 clash under threat amid investigation into World Cup rule breach

Chelsea star Kalidou Koulibaly scored the winning goal for Senegal in their final group stage match against Ecuador that saw the African nation set up a last-16 date with England.

Ismaila Sarr gave Senegal the lead on the stroke of half time before Moises Caicedo levelled the contest in the second, but Koulibaly struck what turned out to be the winning goal just a few minutes later.

The result meant Senegal qualified as Group A runners-up and following England's 3-0 win against Wales on Tuesday evening that means they finish top of Group B, the two teams will meet on Sunday, December. The other knockout match set up from those two groups will see The Netherlands take on the USMNT on Saturday, December 3.

However, Senegal may not be guaranteed a date with England this weekend after breaking a mandatory FIFA World Cup rule regarding each teams pre-match press conference.

READ MORE: Will Neymar be fit again this World Cup? Injury latest after Brazil star handed major scare

In an act labelled 'Matchday -1 Press Conference', each country participating in the World Cup most hold a press conference at the World Cup's main media centre the day before their scheduled fixture. This must be attended by the manager of the nation and one player.

However, ahead of their pivotal clash with Ecuador, Senegal did not have a player present for the press conference, instead, Senegal manager Aliou Cisse spoke to the press for about 40 minutes, with no player appearing.

FIFA responded to Senegal's World Cup rule breach on Wednesday, November 30, the day after their win over Ecuador, revealing that disciplinary proceedings had begun.

The statement read: "The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has opened proceedings against the Senegalese Football Federation due to the potential breaches of article 44 of the Regulations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, article 2.7.2 of the Media and Marketing Regulations and article 8.5.3 of the Team Handbook."

Senegal are not the first team to break this rule after Germany manager Hansi Flick attended his pre-match press conference for the Spain fixture by himself for which FIFA fined Germany 10,000 Swiss Francs (around £8,800).

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