Africa Cup of Nations winners Senegal have reached the round of 16 and will face England in the next game, and after losing Mane before the game, they have become a team that is constantly improving, and manager Cisse will know that his team's preparations for the game against the Netherlands will certainly be affected by Mane's inability to play, just look at the huge screen in the main fan park of the World Cup in Qatar to tell him how important Mane is to Senegal.
Mane's absence in Qatar is a huge regret, a year ago when he led his country to Africa Cup of Nations and qualified for the World Cup, as well as his personal departure from Liverpool with his head held high and several more championship medals, almost the pinnacle of his career, but in Mane's absence, Cisse has built a team that is adaptable and plays smart, thanks in large part to the way he and them approach the game. The former Premier League player, who now has spent four years in the Premier League in Birmingham and Portsmouth, now plans to continue his miracle by knocking England out of the World Cup in the round of 16.
Cisse fielded three different formations in the team's three matches, each to respond to a specific threat from an opponent or to help his team gain the upper hand. Senegal faced the Netherlands in the opener at the Artumama Stadium, with Cisse opting for the midfielder familiar to Premier League fans, Leicester City's Mendy, Everton's Gay and Nottingham Forest's Cuyat. As a result, the Netherlands encountered the biggest obstruction, with only nine shots on goal in the game, while Senegal had 14 shots on goal and three on target each. It was only thanks to a couple of errors by Edouard Mendy that Senegal lost 2-0, but even with these mistakes, people had a different perception of this team after qualifying for the round of 16.
Cisse is now trying to recreate Mane's influence on the left by putting the most talented attacker Saar on the left, and while this can bear fruit in the future, the impressive combination of left-back Ismael Jacobs and Diata is also convincing, with Saar really dominating the game on the left. Then, in the win-loss match against Ecuador, Sal returned to the left side of the front trio, with Cisse dropping Diata and Didiu in favour of Eliman Ndiaye, the 22-year-old who is also playing in the Premier League.
"It's a decisive game for this generation of young people, but it's okay with us, we're dealing with pressure and challenges, it's a good pressure. Why don't we replace the pressure of the world with motivation? "Now Senegal have the opportunity to emulate their best ever World Cup performance, reaching the quarter-finals in 2002, when Cisse was captain, and now they are younger and more likely to fight for the title!