Senegal’s preparations for their last-16 World Cup clash with England have been disrupted by their head coach Aliou Cisse falling ill.
Cisse was unable to take training on Friday ahead of Sunday’s match in Qatar and he also missed Senegal’s pre-match press conference on Saturday.
Senegal assistant Regis Bogaert undertook media duties instead, but he is hopeful Cisse will be in the dugout at the Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday.
“He (Cisse) has been sick for a couple of days now,” said Bogaert.
“He let us take charge of training yesterday, obviously with his instructions we got across to the players.
“Hopefully tomorrow he will be able to come and be on the bench with the players. I am sure that at 10pm [7pm GMT] tomorrow he will be there with the team.”
Senegal, who qualified for the last-16 by coming second in Group A, are underdogs going into Sunday’s game against England.
Cisse’s side, however, have enjoyed a fine 2022 after winning the Africa Cup of Nations and they are eyeing an upset tomorrow.
“I don’t know how important it would reach,” said Bogaert, when asked to compare beating England to Senegal overcoming France at the 2002 World Cup.
“I am sure it is almost as important. For the players, the objective is to show what we can do against one of the top five teams in the world.
“They are No4 I think, but if we can beat a team like that, then that sends out a very strong message of the progress that we’ve made.”
