The English team gave their fans reasons in the group stage to be excited about achieving something good at this World Cup in Qatar. The resurgence of the maligned Harry Maguire, Declan Rice’s leadership, Jude Bellingham’s irreverence, captain Harry Kane’s assistantship despite not yet scoring and Marcus Rashford’s nose are inviting reasons. of optimism in the ‘pross’ environment in today’s round of 16 game preview.
But England, who arrived in Qatar with doubts and are now dreaming of improving on the fourth place achieved four years ago in Russia, will face a rival tonight, Senegal, who will be ready to repeat their success last 2002, when in their World Cup debut they reached the quarter finals.
The ‘lions of Teranga’ are the pride of African football, which for the second time, after Brazil 2014, put two teams in the round of 16. The other is Morocco, Spain’s rival on Tuesday.
That is why Senegal, current African champions, will hope to endorse their continent’s good moment in terms of football by speaking against the current runner-up in the Eurocup, England, in what will be the first confrontation in between the two countries in history. .
The arguments have a choice led by Aliou Cissé, who by the way has been ill for two days, as announced yesterday by his assistant Regis Bogaert. Despite the loss due to injury to their figure and goalscorer Sadio Mané, Senegal started with a defeat to the Netherlands (2-0), but secured a place in the round of 16 thanks to their subsequent victories against the hosts Qatar (1-3) and Ecuador (1-2).
Ten Senegalese in England
Ten of its players are active in English clubs and are familiar with the Premier. Therefore, they know how to play the ‘pross’. Among them, key pieces such as goalkeeper Édouard Mendy and centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly (both from Chelsea), powerful midfielders Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Nampalys Mendy (Leicester) and Cheikhou Kouyaté (Nottingham) and Ismaïla Sarr (Watford) , joined in Boulaya Dia, on loan from Villarreal to Salernitana, is the goalscorer.
All of them will test an England who, unlike most of the title favourites, passed the first stage undefeated. They beat Iran in their debut (6-2), offered doubts against the USA (0-0) but were convinced against Wales (3-0).
Southgate, between respect and trust
“We know how difficult it is to get past this round in our last two tournaments,” England coach Gareth Southgate said yesterday, referring to the fact that at Russia 2018 they beat Colombia in the round of 16 on penalties after a 1-1 draw and at Euro 2020, as host, in Germany (2-0) with two goals in the final stretch.
Southgate also praised the rival. “We know their quality, they impressed us a lot, they are the champions of Africa and great competitors.” Although the English coach said: “We know the scale of the challenge we face, but we have faith in ourselves.”
The Senegalese coach, sick
Regis Bogaert, second coach of Senegal, offered a press conference yesterday in place of coach Aliou Cissé because, as he revealed, “he is not feeling well, he has been sick for two days although he will definitely attend the game”.
“Beating England will be a great achievement, something historic. Beating Sweden in the round of 16 in 2002 was very important. For our players it will be the same. If they win, something historic, ” Bogaert recalled.
Senegal made their debut in a 2002 World Cup and defeated Sweden in the round of 16 after extra time (1-2), falling in the quarterfinals against Turkey (0-1).
Bogaert emphasized the momentum of African football: “It’s important that Cameroon beat Brazil and Tunisia beat France. The message is to say that Senegal will beat England. We must have the ambition to win it all”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
