WORLD CUP 2022 PREVIEW: SENEGAL – Sadio Mane is still facing an anxious wait to be fit for the finals but his country have reasons to be optimistic as they bid to revive the spirit of 2002
The sight of Papa Bouba Diop wheeling off in celebration after putting World Cup debutants Senegal ahead against reigning champions France will remain etched in football folklore till the end of time.
Senegal announced themselves on the scene in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup with one of the results of the tournament – one which eventually contributed to the holders crashing out. It’s almost hard to believe that was 20 years ago as Senegal prepare for their third bow at a World Cup finals.
No longer the amateurs, Senegal’s rise from their first World Cup in 2002 to winning their first Africa Cup of Nations title earlier this year sees them head into Qatar as a much more-fancied force. Few expected them to get out of the group stage two decades ago, let alone progress to the quarter-finals, taking the football world by storm in the process.
But expectations will certainly be higher this time round, with or without talisman Sadio Mane on the field.