Senegal team at the 2022 World Cup

African teams in the 90s of the last century have always been considered strong middle peasants with powerful squads and weak discipline. They could «bite» the tops at major tournaments and fly out from the weak ones. Today the situation has changed little, but the Senegal national team will try to fix it.

The World Cup 2022 in Qatar for Senegal is a chance to finally make the African team a contender for high places. The team led by Aliou Cisse is carrying the most powerful squad to the FIFA World Cup, not only on the African continent.

46-year-old Cisse was a solid player by European standards, in his coaching career his path consisted only of a local team. He started as an assistant coach, in 2015 he became the main one - for African coaches, such stability is amazing. Cissé was able to lead the current Senegal national football team to Africa Cup of Nations victory in 2021, taking silver in 2019. These results show that Cissé knows the capabilities of his players and is ready to succeed in the World Cup.

Leaders and Senegal’s bid for the 2022 World Cup

By name, the Senegalese are by far the best team in Africa, Cisse perfectly integrated young talents into the line-up of the leaders Manet and Koulibaly. Our editors have made a prediction for the World Championship on the composition of the Senegal national team in Qatar.

Goalkeepers

The clear number one Senegalese is Mendy, who won the Champions League with Chelsea and became the best African goalkeeper. However, he is now in decline, but the competition in the form of Gomis and Dieng is too weak to force Edouard out of the squad. Mendy will definitely be number one in Qatar.

Protection

The defense is managed by Mendy’s current Chelsea teammate Koulibaly. He is one of the best defenders in the world, paired with them several fairly high-quality CBs can play at once: Niahate from the English Nottingham Forrest, the former Frenchman Diallo from Leipzig. The left flank looks very promising: young Ballo-Toure from Milan and Jacobs from Monaco will fight for 1st position.

Midfield

Almost namesakes run the center of the field: the experienced leader Gueye from Everton and Gueye from Marseille. Kouyate and Mendy and the Premier League can play with them, as well as promising Sarr from Tottenham. The Senegal national team lacks attacking midfielders, but this is more than compensated by brilliant wingers.

Assault

Mane, Sarr and Diatta are a killer three of an attack even for European teams. Mane, who moved to Bayern, is tearing up the top league again and is striving to finally succeed in a major international tournament. In attack there is Dia from Salernitana and Dieng from Marseille, but most of all the danger in the Senegal national team comes from the wingers.

The history of the Senegal national team at the World Cup

Cissé’s team advanced to the Fifa World Cup in Qatar thanks to the play-offs. Senegal confidently won the group in the first stage, and in the playoffs they defeated Egypt in the penalty shootout: 1:1 on aggregate and 3:1 on penalties. In the group, Senegal won 5 times in 6 matches and scored 15 goals with 4 conceded.

Senegal at the World Cup: the history of performance at the FIFA World Cup

«Lions of Terangi» for the first time in history got to the World Cup in 2002 and immediately reached the ¼ final in a sensational way, beating Sweden, but losing to Turkey only in extra time. Since then, the team has only qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. without leaving the group.

Senegal national team at the 2022 World Cup: group and prospects

The Senegalese got a frankly easy group: in Group A, the hosts Qataris, the Netherlands and Ecuadorians will play. If it will be difficult to fight against the Netherlands, then Mane and the company should have no problems with Ecuador and Qatar.

The chances of reaching the playoffs of the World Cup for the Senegal national football team are quite high. Senegal at the 2022 World Cup is finally able to surprise the fans and show mature football, since the squad allows.

The forecast of our editors for the performance of the Senegal national team in Qatar is a maximum of ⅛ finals. Making it to the playoffs will be an excellent result, but it will be difficult not to get into the grand in the first stage from the second potential place. Mane alone can decide the outcome of the match, but still the level of partners compared to the best teams is not so high.