Posts Tagged ‘Senegal’

World Cup 2014 Qualifying Round 4 Observations

Posted: June 11, 2013 by SFG in World Cup 2014 Qualifiers
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Egypt are on the brink of qualification after a 4-2 win over Zimbabwe.

Egypt are on the brink of qualification after a 4-2 win over Zimbabwe.

Cameroon’s midfield need a creative spark

Without wanting to dampen the deserved praise that Togo’s defence should receive, after they shut out group leaders Cameroon on Sunday, you can’t help but think that a player in the middle of the park with more of an eye for a pass could have broken the fort that was the Togolese goal. Starting with a midfield of Matip, Song, Makoun and Enoh (four defensive midfielders), it is no real surprise that Cameroon failed to score in Lome, with Alex Song probably the most attack minded of the four. Consistently unable to plough through the centre of the area, a more diverse approach such as playing Willie Overtoom behind the strikers would have been more productive, or perhaps employing some of the many strikers in the squad as wingers. Whilst Big Dog Samuel Eto’o was not in the team, N’Djeng and Aboubakar are certainly no donkeys, so cannot blame poor conversion for the result on Sunday.

-Sam Crocker

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Mexico 4-2 Senegal: Four Degrees of Education

Posted: August 5, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in African Football, Olympics
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Jorge Enriquez celebrating Mexico’s opener. Photo: Matthias Schrader / AP

With Egypt exiting from the tournament in the noon kick-off, Senegal were left as the solitary flag-bearers for Africa in the clash against CONCACAF U-23 champions Mexico. As they lined up in the tunnel you could have been excused for thinking it was a senior team against an academy, such was the disequilibrium of the physical attributes between the two sides: Senegal omnipresent with the imposing West African physique; Mexico more in harmony with the tika-taka-esque, diminutive stature that we have come to associate with the Spain national team. Mexico were leading 2-0 just past the hour and it looked like it was all over, but Senegal dramatically equalised in a frantic seven minutes to take the game to extra-time in a thoroughly enchanting game. Ultimately, it was two horrific errors by Papa Gueye and Abdoulaye Ba, archetypal African naivety, which were the locks in the cage for the Teranga Lions. Here is what we learned:

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London 2012 Olympics: Senegal football team profile

Posted: July 21, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in Olympics
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Senegal celebrating after Olympic play-off win over Oman.

The Status Quo

The superabundance of strikers and defenders at the Teranga Lions’ disposal had many salivating and fancying the West Africans’ chances before the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. The salivating proved to be premature and sour as the strikeforce was too top-heavy, a midfield bereft of ideas created no chances for the strikers and the defence looked cumbersome and incongruous with the high line they played.

Naturally, then, the focus for Senegal for the Olympics appears to be diligence. The rhetoric from the management team, which includes Senegal World Cup 2002 captain Aliou Cisse as the Assistant Coach, seems to have vivid awareness of the complacency of the full national team at the Cup of Nations and in the yesteryears (years of wilderness since threatening to become the first African side to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup at the 2002 World Cup). “The most important thing that has to be 100 per cent if we want to have success at the Olympics is mental strength and the ability to keep focused,” said Cisse.

Preparations for the Olympics have been far from ideal, however, with European clubs unwilling to release their stars for the global centrepiece, meaning the team that finished fourth at the CAF U-23 Championships last year has changed significantly. Despite the disruptions, they have managed to beat favourites Spain 2-0 and Switzerland 1-0 in their pre-tournament friendlies.

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SFG’s 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Awards

Posted: February 13, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in African Cup of Nations 2012, African Football
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The hardest thing about football is finding a replacement for it when it’s all over because there just  isn’t any, especially as we quite simply witnessed one of the greatest major tournaments of all-time. So we decided to do half-review, half-awards bash to cherish what we’ve just witnessed. Tom Legg, East African football coinosseur, is back and he is joined by Steve of Spirit of Mirko, an African football enthusiast, both of these guys have been providing excellent Cup of Nations coverage,

Here is the panel for the awards:

Tom – Tom is an East African football enthusiast and expert and has produced some fantastic tactical pieces during the Cup of Nations. For further reading of his expert reports and tactical analyses you can visit his blog Eastern Promise and follow him on twitter.

Steve – Steve is an African football enthusiast, Cardiff City supporter and founder of the brilliant, Guardian-nominated 100-football-blogs-to-follow blog Spirit of Mirko which deals with football’s trivialities, curiosities and statistics, although has also diversified into African football recently with enlightening pieces like this. You can follow him on twitter.

Salim – Editor and co-founder of this humble site, Salim is obsessed with all things football and has been watching the Cup of Nations religiously.

James -  Co-founder and writer, video-producer extraordinaire and the strategist behind our marketing ploys.

Sagar – Editor and writer, has a fetish for fringe players and is equally knowledgeable in the field of cricket.

Amro – Editor and co-founder, his current dream is that Zico will lead Iraq to Brazil in 2014 so he can join the samba party.

Joe – Writer,  a recent addition to the team, he has a fine eye for tactical detail and has already done some brilliant pieces of analysis.

Kevin – Writer, Kevin is one of the two members on the team who had a native nation to support at the Cup of Nations.  He’s still nursing the wounds of Ghana’s exit but the future is bright for the Black Stars.

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Africa Cup of Nations 2012 – one of the best major tournaments ever

Posted: February 4, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in African Cup of Nations 2012, African Football
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Anyone who has been watching the Cup of Nations will know this is one of the greatest tournaments of modern times, if not ever. We know what a good tournament needs;  attacking football, outbursts of flair, shocks that shake the world, late goals, comebacks, drama and the hosts punching well above their weight. The evidence that this is already one of the greatest tournament ever? Well, allow me to wear the sandals of guidance to show you the fruits of the 2012 Cup of Nation, rafiki yangu [my friend in Swahili].

Open football

Let’s face it, major tournaments aren’t fun anymore; they’re often rife with pragmatism. That’s not the fault of the teams or their coaches, but more the fault of the fans and football associations who often have unrealistic expectations. Too much is at stake for the coaches; the ‘big’ teams play a game of patience and are under pressure to steamroll through ‘minnows’, whilst the ‘minnows’ don’t want to be embarrassed and park the proverbial bus.  We usually see it less in continental competitions but it is becoming more common.

Not at this Cup of Nations so far, though, which has been a tournament of the highest order. No side has gone into any match with the intention of sitting back and playing for the draw or keeping the score down when behind. So far we’ve had 61 goals scored, just 3 draws and no goalless matches.

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