As the day’s tick by, we crawl ever closer to the biggest event in world football: that of the World Cup 2022. This year’s tournament will be it’s first in an Arab country, that being Qatar, it might just be the validation football fans needed to confirm that things are moving forward. You can practically feel the feverish excitement in the empty Qatar stadium. You can definitely feel it on online betting platforms around the world.
Already, publications are making speculations about who will be playing for their teams, who will be left behind, what teams will make it, what teams will have to wait until next time, etc.
Well, one team that isn’t being left behind is Senegal. The AFCON tournament has finally wrapped and as a qualifying tournament, the winning team is on their way to Qatar.
But just how far will they get? Senegal has a reputation for getting to the finish line, then tripping. Is this the year that they prove us all wrong?
Does their history back them?
Yes, actually. Senegal has gotten further than most African teams in the World Cup. No African team has gotten further than the quarterfinals, but one of the three teams to get to that point was Senegal. This is where their reputation for tripping at finishing lines comes in. So far, no African nation has won the World Cup, but Senegal is their best bet.
It’s an ambitious feat that is truly an underdog story, but that’s what we love. No one is digging their fingernails into the armchair while watching Brazil play. They have 5 World Cups, and nothing to lose if they don’t get it this time, but Senegal would hold onto this win forever.
And it’s possible it could happen. Senegal are in a much better place than previous tournaments, with a roster of players that look promising.
What does the team look like?
When it comes to the players, Senegal has a very strong leg to stand on. Their team looks like a who’s who of top names in European football, which might go far in explaining how they beat out every other team in Africa to qualify.
Plucked from their teams of Liverpool and Watford FC are Sadio Mane and Ismaila Sarr respectively. Both are domineering teams in English football, and both are respected players in their teams. Mane has scored 25 goals in 77 caps since he came onto the scene in 2012.
Following them from England will be Chelsea’s most valuable player, Edouard Mendy, who is one who can say he’s a Champion’s League winner and considered one of the best goalkeepers in the league. His teammate, Kalidou Koulibaly will be flanking him and creating a great duo of players who already know how to coordinate.
Closer to home is PSG star Idrissa Gueye, who is considered a reliably solid box-to-box player. He’ll be playing next to his teammate Abdou Diallo. The sheer mention of PSG should tell you the quality of these players. PSG has the coin to buy only the best.
To top it all off, the last time Senegal got close to their World Cup victory was in 2002. Back in those days, the captain was a little known defender named Aliou Cisse. Guess who is this year’s Senegal team manager?
It’s a hopeful result. Player-for-player, the team makes the best that Senegal has had to work on within years. With a team like that, it’s hard to see how Senegal couldn’t at least make it to the quarter-finals. They just need to make sure they don’t run out of steam for those final two games. It’s so close, and yet so far.
