Under siege Aliou Cisse slams critics as Senegal march on

IN CAIRO, EGYPT

For the umpteenth time here in Egypt, Senegal coach Aliou Cisse has had to defend himself against what many are considering a below par performance from the highly-rated Teranga Lions.

On Friday night after a workman like 1-0 victory against unfancied Uganda in the round of 16, the question again came up on why his team had shown little sparkle.

“I do not think that criticism is realistic. We have to prepare one match at a time and are capable of beating any team here,” said Cisse.

“I have been saying from the beginning that there is no big team and small team in Africa anymore. Look at Morocco, they have just been knocked out by Benin,” Cisse countered.

The Teranga Lions coach has been a man under siege in Egypt with the Senegalese following here expecting nothing less than the elusive title that they have never won in the history of the competition.

Senegal’s World Cup hero El Hadji Diouf, who is in Egypt for the tournament, and a regular critic of Cisse, his former teammate in that 2002 South Korea and Japan campaign, once called for his sacking saying he was not a good coach yet “we currently have the most complete team in the history of Senegalese football."

Cisse calmly responded that everybody was entitled to their own opinion.

In reality, Senegal are struggling to live up to the hype of being Africa’s top ranked team and most talented.

They are yet to play the football that would truly elevate them to top favourites here in Egypt despite their star studded line-up.

MANE STARS

Against Uganda in their round of 16, Senegal started strongly with fluid movement in attack, their wide men Liverpool forward Sadio Mane on the left and Stade Rainnes forward Ismael Sarr on the right stretching the much vaunted Ugandan backline.

Senegal’s early breakthrough was impressive in how they were gifted the ball in midfield by a careless opponent and transited into a blinding swift attack that set up Mane for a competent finish against one of Africa’s best goalkeeper in Denis Onyango.

But that goal seemed to somehow freeze the Teranga Lions. Even as they continued to hold on to possession they just could not create any clear cut chances despite the high error rate from the Cranes.

In fact, it was at the other end of the pitch that chances were coming, lively Simba SC striker Emmanuel Okwi testing Senegal goalkeeper with a thumping shot and minutes later heading just wide from a corner.

Nippy Abdu Lumala also troubled the Teranga Lions with his direct approach.

Senegal had a chance to double their lead early in the second half when they were awarded a penalty, but for the second time in this tournament, star player Mane failed to execute, his spot kick well saved by Onyango.

“It was a match on equal footing. We scored early and then defended a lot. We are through to the quarter-finals and now need to prepare for our next game. This is a difficult tournament," said Cisse.

The difficulty has been worsened by high expectations from the Teranga Lions, to not only win, but win in style.

However, they are in the last eight, and should they click, will take some stopping.