Population: 15.4 million
Capital: Dakar
Team Colors: Green and White
How Qualified: Won CAF Third Round Group D
Nickname: Lions of Teranga
2nd World Cup
Head Coach: Aliou Cisse (SEN)
Key Players: Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Cheikhou Kouyate (West Ham United), Idrissa Gueye (Everton)
Best Performance: Quarterfinals (2002)
Can they replicate the glory from 2002? Senegal came onto the world stage for the first time in 2002. All they did was defeat France in the opening match, advanced to the quarterfinals, and were a golden goal away from the semifinals.
This will be their first World Cup since that time. Aliou Cisse has taken the Lions of Teranga into their first World Cup in 16 years. They won Group D in the CAF Third Round with a match to spare. That match to spare was the result of a 2-1 defeat to South Africa being annulled by FIFA and replayed after a referee’s “unlawful influence” of the game in awarded South Africa a late penalty. Senegal won the replay and clinched the ticket to Russia.
The star of Senegal is Sadio Mane of Liverpool. The question is will he have any support? After all, he won’t have Mo Salah as one of his teammates out there. Senegal will have other attacking options, but Cisse has yet to optimize the attack with Mane.
There’s Idrissa Gueye of Everton in the midfield. He will have support in players like Cheikhou Kouyate, Alfred N’Diaye and Cheikh N’Doye.
For Senegal to progress far in this tournament, they need to give Mane some attacking support. The defense and midfield will need to be firm given the attacking might of Colombia and Poland, and how unpredictable Japan will be. It’s been 16 years since the Lions of Teranga roared in this competition, but any time Senegal has reached a World Cup of anykind (i.e. Beach, Youth, Mini-Football, etc.) they have always advanced out of the group stage.
Schedule:
June 19: vs. Poland in Moscow (Spartak) (10am CT on FOX/Telemundo)
June 24: vs. Japan in Yekaterinburg (10am CT on FOX/Telemundo)
June 28: vs. Colombia in Samara (9am CT on FOX/Telemundo)
Senegal
2018 World Cup
October, 2018
September, 2018
