Senegal will go into the World Cup as one of the favorites from the African continent after their win over Egypt in the AFCON final. The second time, Aliou Cisse’s team advanced to its third World Cup in Qatar this winter, where they will try to at least match their spectacular quarter-final performance from 2002. On both instances, Sadio Mane netted the winning penalty in tense shootouts. After finally being crowned African champions at the beginning of this year, the Lions of Teranga will enter the competition confident of making it past the group stages. Once they get to the knockout rounds, no nation will look forward to playing against them.
A team with strong experience down its spine, including the Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and captain Kalidou Koulibaly at the back, Everton’s Idrissa Gueye in the middle of the field, Watford’s Ismaila Sarr and new Bayern Munich forward Mane in attack, shouldn’t have any concerns about Group A. Although the latter may be their star player, Cisse has instilled a true sense of teamwork for Senegal and a never-give-up mentality into this bunch of athletes, as evidenced by their two shootout victories over Egypt, which may eventually see them become the first African country to reach a World Cup semifinal.
The Class of 2022, which will travel to Qatar this winter, has a fantastic opportunity to surpass the group from 20 years ago, which is still regarded as Senegal’s finest team. With players like Salif Diao, Papa Bouba Diop, El Hadji Diouf, the latter two of whom were signed by Liverpool after the tournament, and current coach and captain Aliou Cisse among them, the West Africans shocked the football world by defeating the defending champions and European champions France in the opening match. They subsequently drew with both Denmark and Uruguay and defeated Sweden 2-1 to advance to the round of eight as group runners-up, but they were eliminated from the competition after falling to Turkey 1-0 in extra time on the strength of a golden goal in the fourth minute of extra time.
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