MY ACCOUNT
Senegal have made it through to the last 16 of the World Cup where they will face England on Sunday.
The African side recovered from losing their opening game to the Netherlands in Group A, beating Qatar 3-1 and Ecuador 2-1 to book their place in the knockout stages.
Tuesday’s match against Ecuador proved to be dramatic. Needing a victory, Ismaila Sarr gave Senegal the lead just before the break from the penalty spot.
Though the South Americans equalised in the second half, parity lasted for just three minutes, as Kalidou Koulibaly quickly restored Senegal’s advantage with a fine finish.
Ahead of the match against England, we take a look at everything you need to know about the Lions of Teranga.
The pride of Africa
Ranked 18th in the FIFA men’s world rankings, Senegal are the highest-rated team from Africa.
They won the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the first time the country had been victorious in the tournament, having been beaten finalists in 2002 and 2019.
The current manager, Aliou Cisse, was captain of the side that lost in 2002. Appointed as the Senegal boss in 2015, he has guided the team to new levels of success.
Having a player as good as Sadio Mane in their ranks has certainly been helpful for Cisse, with the former Liverpool attacker converting the decisive penalty in the shootout against Egypt that won AFCON.
Yet Senegal entered this tournament without their talisman, who picked up a knee injury on the eve of the World Cup, while playing for Bayern Munich.
The absence of Mane was a massive blow for Senegalese hopes in this competition, but the team have coped without their star forward.
Familiar faces
There will be many familiar faces in the Senegal team for England fans, with 10 members of the 26-man squad currently playing in either the Premier League or Championship.
These include both the scorers in the victory against Ecuador, with Sarr having impressed at Watford since joining the club in 2019 and Koulibaly a summer signing for Chelsea.
Koulibaly’s Chelsea colleague Edouard Mendy is Senegal’s starting goalkeeper. Another starter against Ecuador was Idrissa Gueye, who recently returned to Everton after a lengthy spell with Paris Saint-Germain.
Gueye picked up a second booking in the group stages against Ecuador and will be suspended for the game against England.
It is likely that he will be replaced by Tottenham’s Pape Matar Sarr, who has 11 caps for his country.
Signed from Metz in 2021 and loaned back to the French club for last season, the 20-year old has yet to make an appearance for Spurs in the current campaign.
Toughest test
Even without two of their star players in Mane and Gueye, everything points towards Senegal being England’s toughest opponents so far.
They have shown real resilience in this tournament. Cisse’s team recovered from an opening defeat with a comfortable victory against Qatar, that put them back in qualification contention.
Senegal then held their nerve against Ecuador, responding instantly to a second-half equaliser to regain the lead and then surviving a late onslaught, as their opponents desperately searched for another goal.
Even in their 2-0 defeat to Netherlands there was much to admire, with Senegal not conceding their first goal until the 84th minute and having 15 shots on goal, of which four were on target.
The England manager Gareth Southgate does not seem to be underestimating the task ahead of his team.
After beating Wales 3-0, Southgate said of Senegal: “We know on the rankings we will be favourites — we’ve got to deal with that — but they’re a very dangerous team.”
Switch in formation
Cisse is a manager that is flexible with his tactics depending on opposition, shifting between 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 4-5-1 formations in recent matches.
With Mane out, Cisse has been playing Gueye as a No10. With Gueye now also unavailable and likely to be replaced by Sarr, we should see more of a 4-3-3, with the wingers dropping deeper when needed.
Boulaye Dia will lead the line. On loan at Serie A club Salernitana from Villarreal, Dia opened the scoring against Qatar and is adept at linking play.
He will be flanked by two wingers from the Championship. Sarr is well known to England’s players due to his time in the Premier League with Watford, but right winger Iliman Ndiaye only made one appearance in the top flight before Sheffield United were relegated.
Ndiaye has established himself for the Blades in the second tier, showing an eye for goal this season with a total of nine in 21 appearances.
When Cisse was a player, Senegal made the quarter-finals in the 2002 World Cup. Even against a side as strong as England, the possibility of repeating that feat cannot be discounted.
