Senegal Hope to Ruffle More Feathers

Team 🇸🇳: Senegal

Current FIFA Ranking 📊: 27

Previous World Cup 🏆 appearances: 1 - 2002



Best World Cup result ✨: Quarter-final - 2002

Group fixtures 📆: June 19 vs Poland, June 24 vs Japan, June 28 vs Colombia

Captain: Cheikhou Kouyate

Star Player ⭐: Sadio Mane

Head coach 👔: Aliou Cisse

Preferred formation: 4-2-3-1

Qualification Route:

Senegal became the Group D winners in African qualifying, not losing a game en route to finishing five points clear of Burkina Faso. Senegal have seized a second chance to qualify for the World Cup, beating South Africa 2-0 in a replay of a game they first lost last year. Sadio Mane was pivotal in both goals. He set up Diafra Sakho for the opener in the 12th minute and forced an own goal by South Africa defender Thamsanqa Mkhize in the 39th.

Past Performances:

Senegal made its first FIFA World Cup appearance in 2002 and caused a huge upset by defeating World and European champions France 1–0 in the tournament's opening game. Senegal eventually reached the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, one of only three African teams to do so (the first being Cameroon in 1990; the other being Ghana in 2010). In the group, after defeating France, they drew with Denmark and Uruguay, and beat Sweden in extra time in the round of 16, before losing to Turkey in the quarter-finals

Senegal has won the Amilcar Cabral Cup, a regional soccer tournament for West African nations, eight times, more than any other country, with Guinea in second place with five titles

The Squad:

Goalkeepers: Abdoulaye Diallo, Khadim Ndiaye, Alfred Gomis

Defenders: Saliou Ciss, Youssouf Sabaly, Kalidou Koulibaly, Kara Mbodji, Lamine Gassama, Moussa Wague, Pape Alioune Ndiaye

Midfielders: Cheikhou Kouyate, Idrisa Gueye, Salif Sane, Cheikh Ndoye, Alfred Ndiaye

Forwards: Moussa Sow, Moussa Konate, Diafra Sakho, Sadio Mane, Ismaila Sarr, Mame Biram Diouf, Mbaye Niang, Keita Balde