Senegal coach Aliou Cissé hailed his team’s progress from continental laughing stock to feared heavyweights ahead of their semi-final clash against Burkina Faso at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Cissé, 45, took over as boss in March 2015. His side were eliminated after the group stages in Equatorial Guinea but they reached the last eight in 2017 in Gabon.
After competing at the World Cup for the first time since 2002, they reached the 2019 Cup of Nations final where they lost 1-0 to Algeria.
On Wednesday night at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, the Lions of Teranga will contest an unprecedented second successive Cup of Nations semi-final.
Next month they play Egypt for a place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“This has all been as a result of hard work over a long period,” said Cissé.
"When I came we were the 14th best team in Africa and 64th in the Fifa world rankings. Now we’re in Fifa’s top 20 and the best rated in Africa. This hasn’t been achieved by chance,” added the former Senegal international.
Favourites
Cissé’s men go into the clash in Yaoundé as favourites. Not only are they 40 places higher than their opponents in the world rankings but many of their squad have experience of the latter stages of the competition.
“I think that’s the luck of the Senegalese going into this semi-final,” said former Cameroon goalkeeper Joseph-Antoine Bell.
“They’ve been at this stage before and they know that they have what it takes to go further.”
Senegal were less than impressive during the group stages in Bafoussam. A stoppage-time goal took them past Zimbabwe in the opening game and goalless draws followed against Guinea and Malawi.
In the last-16, Cape Verde had been reduced to nine men before Senegal scored.
However, there was an impressive response to Equatorial Guinea’s equalizer in the quarter-final. Substitutes Cheikhou Kouyate and Ismaila Sarr came on in the last 30 minutes to claim the match.
“We’ve been trying to win the Cup of Nations for more than 60 years,” said Cissé.
“Lots of great players and great teams have tried but not succeeded. We’ve got a chance to be the generation that did succeed. It’s a motivation and it will be hard work but we must keep on believing that it can be done.”
