Hungry Teranga Lions on the prowl, Samurai Blue beware
What you need to know:
- Winner of match will take control of group regardless of other results.
- Confident Senegal will fancy their chances against Japan and have the quality to shut down whatever raid the Japanese mount.
Senegal coach Aliou Cisse will be looking to win his second match and take a major step towards the last 16 in Group H when Teranga Lions come up against Japan at Ekaterinburg Arena from 6pm (Kenyan time) on Sunday.
But Cisse must first craft a formula for containing Japan and Borussia Dortmund’s veteran midfielder Shinji Kagawa and forwards Shinji Okazaki (Leicester City) and Yuya Osako (Werder Bremen).
In his team’s defensive trio of Napoli centre back Kalidou Koulibally, Yousouf Sabaly of French team Bordeaux and Belgian-based Mousa Wague, Cisse has the quality he needs to shut down opposing strikers. The three effectively kept out Poland’s deadly striker Robert Lewandowski in their first match.
Senegal players camping in Kaluga, 150km south-west of Moscow, were rattled on Wednesday when British business magnate and media personality Alan Michael Sugar made comments about the team which were interpreted as racist.
Sugar tweeted a picture of the team edited to include handbags and sunglasses spread on sheets, with the caption: “I recognise some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multi-tasking resourceful chaps,” prompting the advisor of Senegalese president on sports, Ndong Ndiaye, to call for Sugar’s sacking.
Japan aka Samurai Blue, ranked 61st globally, are playing in their sixth successive World Cup, have twice reached the last 16 — in 2010 and as co-hosts in 2002. Senegal reached the quarter-finals in 2002 when Japan co-hosted the tournament with South Korea and are brimming with confidence after beating Poland in their first match.
Both Senegal and Japan are joint top of the group on three points each, both having won their first matches with identical 2-1 scores. Senegal beat Poland 2-1 at Spartak Stadium on Tuesday, while Japan beat 10-man Colombia in a match played earlier at Saransk Stadium.
Japan, the most successful team in AFC Asian Cup, has not had smooth preparation for the tournament. Coach Ashiro Nikino took over the team in May after Vahid Halilhodzic was controversially fired in April.
Japan weathered the storm to beat Colombia 2-1 at Mordovia Arena in Saransk, the victors’ first goal coming in the sixth minute via a Shinji Kagawa penalty after Carlos Sanchez handled a goal-bound ball in the area. Sanchez became the first player to be red-carded in the tournament in the match.
Juan Fernando drew Colombia level in the 39th minute but Yaya Osako scored the winner for Japan in the 74th minute. The winner of today’s match will rise to the top of the group. Poland play Colombia in an earlier match at Kazan.
