On the sixth day of the World Cup, the best of a continent will probably be lost. Senegal against Qatar pits the African Cup of Nations winners against the Asian Cup champions. The loser may be eliminated with a game to go and less than a week of the tournament played. The possibility is that officially the best sides in two huge confederations will not figure in the World Cup’s last 16.
“It is two teams up against a wall,” Senegal manager Aliou Cisse said. “We are talking about two champions, the Asian champions and the African champions, and you can imagine the importance. If you lose your opening game, you are up against a brick wall. However, we do have experience under our belts and we have played other difficult games under the same level of stress and intensity. We know we need to knuckle down and pull everything together to pull out that win.”
