Senegal’s AFCON 2021 winning coach, Aliou Cisse, has admitted under pressure for the Teranga Lions to reach the Qatar 2022 World Cup knockout stage due to their status as African champions.
After the Lions lost their opening game to the Netherlands and returned to reckoning with victory over hosts Qatar in their second match, they now need a win today against Ecuador to leapfrog the South Americans to the second spot of Group A and qualify for the last 16. Senegal were eliminated in the group stage on fair play points four years ago in Russia.
But speaking at the pre-match conference yesterday, Cisse said: “I come from a country where we don’t like losing. We’re always hungry for that win. Not going to the round of 16 would be difficult to digest. We’re okay, we’re dealing with the pressure and stress. For me, it’s good stress,” observed the gaffer who led Senegal to their first African title in Cameroon. He was in the Lions that shocked then world champions France to reach the quarter-finals of the Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002.
Cisse’s Lions lost 2-0 to the Netherlands in their opening match but defeated Qatar 3-1 to keep alive their hopes of advancing.
“We understand that winning will allow us to continue on the adventure and that’s exactly what we intend on doing,” Cisse said. “We know in 2018 we were looking for a draw when maybe the points would play in our favour but this isn’t the case Tuesday (today).
“We’ve got a very strong and experienced team, they’re a well-oiled machine. We’ve got the right mixture of veterans and players, players who are used to these types of challenges.”
Ecuador need a win or draw to qualify, after beating Qatar 2-0 and outplaying the Dutch in a 1-1 draw to go joint top of Group A on four points apiece.
The South Americans are sweating on the fitness of captain Enner Valencia after he was carried off late in the Netherlands draw with a recurrence of a knee strain.
