African teams are regarded as underdogs, every World Cup stage they come in demeaned and despised.
Egypt, Nigeria,Tunisia and Morocco were defeated in their first group stages matches during the ongoing world cup in Russia 2018 . The pressure now mounts on the Lions of Teranga. Senegal is facing Poland in Group H match today, which also has Japan and Colombia.
All eyes will be on Sadio Mane, the Liverpool talismanic.That will be a mouth-watering encounter World Cup shoot-out.
Good luck to Sadio Mane and @MoSalah today. 👊👊
🇵🇱 vs 🇸🇳 (4pm BST)
🇷🇺 vs 🇪🇬 (7pm BST)#WorldCup #LFC pic.twitter.com/D3fbYF9PIM— Liverpool FC (@LFC) June 19, 2018
Can history repeat itself? Back in 2002 during the World Cup in Japan and South Korea the debutants Senegal ran up to the quarter-finals after defeating France and advanced to the last eight.
At the time, best perfomers for Senegal included Henri Camara and El Hadji Diouf and their coach was the late French, Bruno Metsu who passed away in 2013.
There is a lot of pressure to follow in its footsteps. Lions of Teranga , are blessed with the talents of Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly and this is their second different World Cup voyage.
“If we’re here, it’s thanks in part to the 2002 generation,” captain Cheikhou Kouyate said.
“Now, we want to write our own story.”
Currently their coach is Aliou Cisse who is the link to both teams, the captain in 2002 and now the coach. Cisse said he hasn’t decided where to put Mane, who played mostly on the left side this season with the Reds; Liverpool. Cisse said they can do better than 2002 because “football is still football” and it’s unpredictable.
“No one knows who is going to win the World Cup,” the coach said.
“My dream is to win and bring it to Senegal. We know it will be very hard. In any case, we’re certainly not going there for tourism.” said the Senegalese national coach.
"It's a childhood dream" 🇸🇳😊#POLSEN will mark a special milestone in Sadio Mane's career #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/im5ijbEU8s
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 19, 2018
“Sadio is capable of playing on the left, he’s capable of playing on the right, he’s capable of playing behind the striker,” Cisse said.
All eyes of Africa will be gazing on Senegal when the Lions of Teranga and Poland lock horns at the Spartak stadium in Moscow today. Poland is ranked eighth in the world to Senegal’s 27. Sadio Mane banged in 10 Champions League goals – including one in the final in Kiev – forming a deadly trio strike force at Liverpool alongside Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino of Brazil.Is Mane going to cause havoc to the Polish side, and will the Lions of Teranga be a reckoning force during their first group stage opening match?