OSAKA, Japan, 21 June — Senegalese players and coaching staff insisted yesterday that they are no surprise team and they aim to make the most of a World Cup of surprises to create history for themselves and Africa.
“It is now or never if you want to win and make history. We don’t want to have any regrets in a few years time,” said midfielder Salif Diao two days ahead of their quarterfinal match with Turkey.
“We are the last African team. It is a very special feeling. We are not playing for Senegal but for the whole of Africa,” he said.
“The biggest challenge is to prove that we are no surprise,” added Diao, whose team upset title holders France in the World Cup opener, drew with Denmark and Uruguay in the first round and then beat Sweden 2-1 in the Round of 16.
Coach Bruno Metsu agreed although he isn’t surprised that Senegal are the second African team to make it to the World Cup quarterfinals, following in the footsteps of Cameroon in 1990.
“It should be no surprise for the coach, only for the fans. We have been belittled. We have been considered a small team but proven all predictions wrong. What we are doing for Africa is important,” Metsu said.
The coach said Turkey was going in the same direction: “They are talking of a semifinal against Brazil or England. We have to make sure that this is not the case.”
Metsu and Diao praised Turkey as a physically-strong team after watching their 1-0 win over Japan and singled out the attackers such as Hasan Sas and Hakan Sukur.
The Senegalese said mental and physical fitness will be a key to victory tomorrow night.
“The will is there but if the physical stamina isn’t, it is very difficult. After one month we need more time to recover. It is no use to play if you are not physically ready,” said Metsu, who gave his players the day off yesterday.
Diao added: “Both teams are strong physically but the team which is stronger in the head will win.”
Looking at his own role, Diao said it was up to Metsu to decide whether he will be in the starting lineup after serving a two-game ban for a red card against Denmark where he also scored the equalizer in the 1-1 draw.
Diao is now back and Metsu said that captain Aliou Cisse, Ferdinand Coly and Pape Malick Diop will also resume training after sitting out Wednesday’s session due to minor injuries.
“I can chose from all players,” Metsu said.
He added that Senegal played a similar football to Brazil and that a semifinal meeting between the two would be “a dream”.
“Brazil and Senegal have shown what you can do with beautiful football,” he said.
Diao also praised Brazil but said he and many other teammates would actually prefer to play England because many of them hoped to get contracts in the Premier League.
“They don’t care about the weather or the long season,” he said.
The 25-year-old is set to leave French club Sedan for Liverpool — so will star midfielder El Hadji Diouf — but he said it was still uncertain whether that will be this summer or in winter.
Cut the magic — Senegal let
their feet do the talking
Cut the magic, it’s talent that counts.
Senegal intend to let their feet do the talking when they take on Turkey in the quarterfinal nobody predicted at the World Cup in Osaka tomorrow.
The Lions of Teranga have the chance to write a page of World Cup history and no African side has ever reached the semifinals. Cameroon, in 1990, were the only other African team to reach the last eight, where they fell to England.
And although black magic may not be entirely unknown back home the team say they are too good to need to rely on such things when it comes to football.
Metsu meanwhile is at pains to explain that his players are not invoking witch doctors or any other skullduggery against the Turks.
“Maybe two or three are susceptible to that kind of thing — but the rest just treat it as a joke,” he says.
Metsu, who calls himself a white man with the heart of a negro, has told the team that their talent is all they need to rely on and that spiritualism and witchcraft will not win tournaments.
“Otherwise we’d have won the African Nations Cup and the World Cup ages ago,” he smiles.
He recalled earlier this week how he had once seen an assistant sprinkle water on the pitch before a match in Egypt.
“I told him I didn’t want to see that again. I told him ‘with your nonsense we’ll lose.’ And we lost 1-0,” he recalls.
