Senegal captain and Chelsea defender, Kalidou Koulibaly, has said that the Teranga Lions are aiming to become the first African nation to win the World Cup, with the tournament in Qatar exactly a month away.
No side from the continent has ever made it past the quarter-finals, with Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and most recently Ghana (2010) knocked out in the last eight – all after extra time or penalties.
This year’s finals start on 20 November when the hosts face Ecuador in Group A, with Senegal beginning their campaign, in the same pool, against the Netherlands the following day.
Koulibaly, who plays regularly in the Premier League, believes Africa’s representatives need to think bigger than just reaching the knock-out phase.
“African nations are lacking self-esteem and self-awareness that they can really win a World Cup,” the 31-year-old told BBC Sport Africa.
“We consider that going past the group stage is a good thing, but we should set higher goals for ourselves.
“I don’t think that the French team or the English team are happy with going through the group stages – they want to go further.
“We should have the same mindset. That’s what I am trying to bring to Senegal.
“I think it’s time that an African country delivers and wins the World Cup, because we are a very talented continent. We have great players.”
Senegal was crowned continental champions in February and are 18th in the world rankings heading into Qatar, having been Africa’s top-ranked side since November 2018.
They will be joined as African representatives in Qatar by Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia.
Two decades ago, Senegal stunned defending champions France with an unexpected 1-0 win on their World Cup debut in Japan and South Korea.
The West Africans then drew with Denmark and Uruguay and beat Sweden to reach the quarter-finals, before being eliminated 1-0 by Turkey after a golden goal in the fourth minute of extra time.
The Lions could not repeat that feat on their second World Cup finals appearance four years ago, exiting in the group stage along with Africa’s four other representatives (Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia).
However, their experience in Russia – where Japan progressed at Senegal’s expense on their fair play record – has not deterred Koulibaly.
“We still resent the 2018 World Cup, especially me, because I know that we could have done better. I was really sad about going home that early,” admitted the centre-back.
“It was unfair. We thought it was going to be about the goal average, but getting knocked out on the basis of a fair play rule really hurts.
“We learned a lot but it was a shame, because we were capable of qualifying on the pitch by winning games. We didn’t do it though, so the blame is on us.”
