Senegal has Bayern Munich star to try to go far in the World Cup

The African teams that reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup suffered traumatic defeats.

Cameroon had its place in the semifinals in 1990. It beat England and dominated. But he attacked so much, even with a 2-1 advantage, that he took the turn in one of the most exciting matches in the history of the tournament.

Ghana had a goal avoided by the hand of Luis Suárez at the top of the line in the last play against Uruguay, in 2010. Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty, and the Uruguayans qualified in the dispute of the penalty mark.

And then there is the story of Senegal, with elimination against Turkey in extra time, in 2002, in the competition hosted by South Korea and Japan. It was the last sudden-death goal scored in the tournament – ​​the system was abolished four years later, in 2006.

The African team participates for the third time in the tournament. And it hopes to succeed in the attempt it failed in 2018: to pass the first phase.

The team is in Group A, with Qatar, Holland and Ecuador. The debut will be on November 21, against the Dutch.

“When we are together, Senegal wins. Football is the barometer these days for Senegalese society. People see us play and are proud to be Senegalese, proud to be African”, says coach Aliou Cissé.

He has lived through the good and bad moments of national football and in a short space of time. Captain of the team that reached the quarterfinals in 2002, months earlier he had missed a penalty in the final of the African Cup of Nations, a move that gave Cameroon the title and prevented Senegal from obtaining its first major achievement. Something that only happened this year.

Midfielder and defender with spells at Paris Saint-Germain, in France, and Birmingham, in England, Cissé was Senegal’s coach at the 2018 World Cup, eliminated by the criterion of “fair play”. It ended tied in points, goal difference, number of wins and head-to-head with Japan. He fell because he received more yellow cards than his Asian rival.

“We have experienced players, who know what a tournament like the World Cup is all about. We can go further,” says Cissé.

The main piece is Sadio Mané. English and European champion with Liverpool, he soon became one of the main names of Bayern Munich (ALE). Last season, when she was still with the British team, she finished second in the Premier League. He is currently at 11th.

In the last match of the African Qualifiers, the spot was decided between Senegal and Egypt. Mané faced his friend and then clubmate, Mohamed Salah. After winning (on penalties), the Senegalese star sent a message to his colleague regretting that only one of them would go to the World Cup.

Salah’s absence will be felt by the organization of the Cup. He is the biggest football idol in Qatar.

Mané is Senegal’s main name, but not the only known one. Also in the team are defender Kalidou Koulibaly (Chelsea-ING) and midfielder Idrissa Gane Gueye (Everton-ING).

It may sound contradictory, but the team that has one of the most coveted strikers in world football has defense as one of its strengths. In the last African Cup of Nations, Senegal had five clean sheets. Cissé favors the 4-3-3 system in which Mané also fulfills a role that Liverpool has been missing this season: he returns to accompany the opposing side and is a deadly weapon on the counterattack.

On his debut, he is expected to fight one of the most anticipated duels of the first round of the World Cup against Dutch defender (and his former teammate) Virgil van Dijk.