Senegal can use their physical prowess to bulldoze England out of the 2022 Fifa World Cup when they meet tonight at 9 pm.
The Lions of Teranga, together with the Atlas Lions of Morocco are the only two teams carrying the hope of Africa in the last 16 round. This is after Ghana, Tunisia and Cameroon were bundled out in the group stages.
Going toe-to-toe against ball players such as Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford could prove to be a suicide mission for the man-mountains of Senegal.
Some of Senegal’s skyscrapers include Kalidou Koulibaly, Iliman Ndiaye, Ismaila Sarr, Ismail Jakobs and Abdou Diallo and they could be a handful for their nimbler opponents.
Senegal reached the last 16 feeling good about themselves. Aliou Cisse’s team lost their opening game to the Netherlands after letting in two late goals. Their frustration was compounded by the absence of star forward Sadio Mane, at home nursing an injury. According to Fifa.com they handsomely met that challenge, finding their feet with a 3-1 victory over Qatar before edging a winner-takes-all clash with impressive Ecuador to advance to only Senegal’s second Round of 16 appearance.
Pape Matar Sarr of Tottenham Hotspur and Mamadou Loum, the Porto player on loan in the English Championship with Reading, are vying to replace the experienced Gana Gueye. Said Cisse on the Fifa website: “This will be a new stage for us. We know that we are moving to the knockout stages, which is completely different from what we are used to playing in these types of (group) matches. It is now a win or lose situation; there are no second chances – if you win, you go through, if you lose, you go home.”
“We know on the rankings we will be favourites, we’ve got to deal with that, but they’re a dangerous team. The first objective is achieved. The big business starts now,” said England coach Gareth Southgate.
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