According to Senegal coach Aliou Cisse, African teams should be confident of going far in the World Cup, if not winning it.
Senegal defeated Qatar 3-1 on Friday to earn their first points in Group A.
The Africa Cup of Nations champions suffered an injury to standout player Sadio Mane before the start of the World Cup and were unable to capitalize on their chances in an opening loss to the Netherlands.
Cisse, on the other hand, believes that his squad, as well as other African teams competing in the Middle East – Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, and Tunisia – should have faith that they can compete with the best nations.
Cisse cited Japan’s and Saudi Arabia’s unexpected victories against Germany and Argentina, respectively, as evidence to back up his argument.
“Just look at how the World Cup is playing out, with so many surprises,” Cisse added.
“We’ve seen David defeat Goliath. Anything is conceivable after Japan defeated Germany and Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina.
“All of the teams participating are deserving of being here. It’s not like 30 years ago, when the big fish utterly annihilated the smaller teams.
“I believe this World Cup will be full of surprises. Yes, an African country can win the World Cup, and I hope Senegal is that country!”
Senegal became the first African team to defeat the host nation at a World Cup with their victory over Qatar; the previous four times an African team faced the hosts, they lost by an aggregate score of 12-2.
Following the Dutch defeat, Cisse urged his forwards to improve. Boulaye Dia, Famara Diedhiou, and Bamba Dieng responded to their coach’s summons.
“Yes, we understood the message loud and clear,” Dia replied when asked if the Senegal forwards had done what was expected of them.
“Against the Netherlands, we were ineffective. We had numerous scoring chances that we should have converted.
“The coach focused on efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. We must get in front of the goal and create those opportunities.
“We’re all really thrilled because all of the forwards can score – joyful days!”