Despite defeat against Poland today, Japan still qualify for the knockout phase. Besides having the same points as Senegal, the Samuray Blue scored and recieved the same number of goals as the African team.
In this case, the FIFA rules compare the number of red and yellow cards recieved, which allowed Japan to progress to the next round :
| GROUP H | MP | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | PTS |
| COLOMBIA | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| JAPAN | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| SENEGAL | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| POLAND | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 3 |
So maybe the fact to avoid recieving one or two cards would change the scenario for Senegal.
