Are Senegal ‘Africa’s best hope’ at World Cup 2022?
![teranga lions](https://ghanaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2018-06-28T161732Z_1768114810_RC19381A57B0_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-WORLDCUP-SEN-COL-1.webp)
Senegal fans
The Teranga Lions will be going to their third World Cup, but it will be their first as the African champions.
Previous World Cup appearances: 2002, 2018
Titles: 0
Best finish: Quarter-finals (2002)
World Cup record: W3 L2 D3
World Cup goals: 11
Biggest win: 1-0 v France (2002)
Player to watch: Sadio Mane
Ranking: 18
Group stage fixtures: Netherlands (November 21), Qatar (November 25), Ecuador (November 29)
Senegal is the least experienced of the five African teams in the 2022 World Cup.
The Teranga Lions will be going to their third World Cup, but it will be their first as the African champions.
Despite this, the country in West Africa is in a pretty unique position. Only three teams from Africa have ever made it to the final eight at a World Cup, but Senegal did it in their very first game.
In 2002, they beat the current world and European champions, France, and scored in all but one of their games on the way to the quarter-finals.
Senegal didn’t qualify for the next three World Cups, though, and 2022 will be the first time they’ve ever qualified for two in a row.
Disappointment in 2018
Aliou Cisse, who was the captain of their big adventure in 2002 and has been in the dugout for the last seven years, will lead the Teranga Lions as they try to put 2018 behind them.
Senegal was the first team ever to be kicked out of the World Cup for not playing fair. This was a tough loss, but Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly thinks they have learned from it.
The center-back for Chelsea told Al Jazeera, “We won’t make the same mistake again.”
“We could have done better in 2018, but it didn’t work out. It’s too bad because we had a great group of players. In Qatar, we will be better off because of what happened in 2018.
“The best hope for Africa”
The fact that they are the African champions will also give them a boost. Senegal took a while to get going at the Africa Cup of Nations in January. They were in a group with Malawi and Zimbabwe and had a hard time.
But during the knockout rounds, they really showed what they were made of, and even though it took a penalty shootout in the final to prove it, the Lions were the rightful winners.
Not only was this Senegal’s first taste of silverware, but it also made the current generation and Cisse’s work seem more important. And it made it clear that they were the best chance for Africa to do well in Qatar.
Mark Gleeson, an expert on African football, told Al Jazeera that he thinks Senegal is the best hope for Africa. “I hope they can make it to the quarterfinals, but that will depend on who they play in the round of 16.” I do think they’ll make it, and I think they’ll be the only African team to do so.”
This hope is increased by the draw.
In the first game, the Netherlands will be a tough opponent, but the rest of Group A is made up of hosts Qatar, who are making their first World Cup appearance, and Ecuador, the last automatic qualifier from South America.
Senegal is the favorite to move on based on their FIFA ranking and how good their team is in general.
Koulibaly said, “It’s going to be very hard, but it’s an open group.”
“Qatar is playing at home, the Netherlands is a great football nation with big players like Van Dijk, who I played against a lot, and Ecuador proved they deserved to be here.”
Sadio Mane, who plays for Bayern Munich and has won the African Footballer of the Year award twice, is the Teranga Lions’ biggest star.
But they have players like Edouard Mendy, Idrissa Gueye, Cheikhou Kouyaté, Ismaila Sarr, Abdou Diallo, and Boulaye Dia who are known in Europe.
We have high hopes
Since Cameroon, were won the title, Senegal hasn’t done much to impress.
They beat Egypt in a two-leg playoff, but they only won on penalties after the total score was 1-1. After that, they beat Benin 3-1 with 10 men on the field and Rwanda with a 98th-minute penalty.
Friendlies played before the World Cup have also caused some worry. After an easy win over Bolivia, Senegal played Iran to a 1-1 draw, in which they didn’t show much creativity in attack.
That adds to a bigger worry. When Mane is in chains, it’s hard to know where the chances are coming from.
Even with these recent problems, Koulibaly is still optimistic about Senegal’s chances in Qatar. He says the team’s goal at the World Cup is to push the limits.
“I don’t know about the other African teams, but as captain of Senegal, I can say that we are not going there to reach the normal ceiling for Africa, which is the quarter-finals,” he said.
“I think we can compete with other countries from different continents for the trophy. We don’t need to be at the World Cup if we’re just going to show up and leave after the group stage. That is such a hopeless way of thinking. If you go into battle thinking you aren’t good enough, you’ve already lost.
“Senegal will go to Qatar with the goal of winning because that’s how we think.”
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