When Senegal plays England on Sunday, their mentality will be their best edge despite having some incredibly talented players.
On two key occasions already this year, the team of Aliou Cisse has crossed the finish line twice.
This team did the most good for their country when they overcame Egypt in February to win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. They duplicated the feat a few weeks later, winning the same opponent in their play-off to qualify for the World Cup.
They therefore have a popular leader and a group of players who are all full of self-assurance.
No matter what happens to them in this tournament at this stage, they will still receive cheers, so they go into this game against England in the round of 16 with no fear of failing.
a band without any major stars
I covered the Afcon for the BBC in the start of 2022, and it was wonderful to observe the event and discover the personalities of the numerous African teams.
Yaya Toure, his brother Kolo, a former Ivory Coast star, and Lauren, a Cameroonian right-back who played for Arsenal, were all people I spoke with frequently.
They claimed that some of the traditionally successful teams, like Ivory Coast or Nigeria, struggled to compete with north African countries like Egypt, Morocco, or Tunisia since those teams shared a similar organizational structure and placed greater emphasis on strong players.
To succeed, you must have a strong feeling of teamwork. You must become a disciplined team that relies more on the group as a whole than on a single superstar.
Senegal has undoubtedly succeeded in doing that. Everton's midfielder Idrissa Gueye was suspended for this match, which is a setback for them, but they do have players who can fill in. If Sadio Mane, a former Liverpool star who is currently a player for Bayern Munich, had been well enough to compete in Qatar, he would have strengthened them.
Starting with Eduoard Mendy in goal and his Chelsea teammate Kalidou Koulibaly in the middle of their defense, they have talent and experience across their roster.
I believe Senegal represents a much bigger threat than any opponent we have faced thus far in this tournament. I continue to think that England will triumph and control the ball to a great extent.
However, this Senegal team can frustrate England on the counter-attack in addition to trying to frustrate them like Iran and Wales did, whereas the United States was dangerous because we didn't play very well.
England must focus on themselves while remembering their outstanding performance against Wales. Senegal will definitely talk about how to stop all of our excellent players, and Gareth Southgate needs to keep the conversation going.
We need to ramp up the pace now because, if we win, we'll probably play France in the quarterfinals. The opportunity to play a bad game or even a bad half has passed now that we are in the knockout stages.
We are a strong enough team to bounce back from a weak first half with the alternatives on the bench, but I'd prefer if we started this game the way we started the second half against Wales, by aiming to overwhelm them right away.
That is what I want to see, but as pundits, we often find it difficult to balance our predictions of what might happen with our desires.
For the team, I would personally pick Phil Foden over Mason Mount because I am unable to see what Foden does that Mount cannot. He does go back, but so does Foden.
Marcus Rashford should also be playing, in my opinion, as you can see from the way he stands out on the pitch that he is razor sharp and will terrify any opposition.
However, I'm not so sure Southgate will feel the same way; this game may be the one in which he behaves more naturally.
In my opinion, after witnessing Rashford and Foden as game-changers from the bench, he may decide to re-join the group he started the tournament with.
With 80 or so caps and a tournament resume, Raheem Sterling should be included because at this stage of the World Cup, you need experience.
Rashford and Foden are two players who I think should be allowed to play because they are both in good form, so I wouldn't fault Southgate for doing that.
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