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Bryan Robson’s France heroics inspire and fuel England’s forward thinking | World Cup 2022

A little more than 40 years on and Gareth Southgate can still freeze-frame the moment. So can every England fan of his generation. The long throw had been flicked on and there was Bryan Robson, his hero, everybody’s hero, getting his body side-on, allowing the ball to run across him before volleying it down and in.

There were 27 seconds on the clock and England were 1-0 up against France. Robson would score again in the second half, a majestic leap and thumping header for 2-1 and England pulled clear to win 3-1. Their 1982 World Cup campaign was up and running.

Like countless kids in England, Southgate modelled himself on Robson. He had the same boots; he wore his shirt out at the front, tucked in at the back; he played in midfield. He even tried to run like him. Southgate ran that day, back from school to catch the France game, getting there just in time for Robson’s iconic opener.

Southgate grew up as a fan of Manchester United, where Robson moved in 1981, so this was all impossibly brilliant for the impressionable 11-year-old; his first vivid World Cup memory. Southgate has vague recollections of the 1978 finals, having to support Scotland because England had not qualified, the ticker-tape and all the rest. But 1982 was his first real World Cup, when the love affair began.

He collected the stickers and he was heartbroken when England fell short in the second group phase, throwing on the half-fit Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking against Spain but failing to unlock the 0-0. They went home having not lost a game.

“Bryan was my hero and I remember both of his goals against France,” Southgate said. “It was my first World Cup watching England and also the Brazilian team of that tournament – Zico, Éder, Falcão, Sócrates …

“I was a midfield player like Bryan. Not of his class but I used to chip in with a few goals. To get to work with him as a player with England [Robson was the assistant manager from 1994-96] … I found that really difficult. The same with Steve Coppell [who managed Southgate at Crystal Palace]. They were both heroes of mine so, yeah, I never really got fully comfortable with that until later.”

As Southgate and England prepare for their World Cup quarter-final against France on Saturday, in Qatar’s northern outpost of Al Khor, it is strange to think it will be the first meeting between the nations at this competition since 1982. They have played each other on only one other occasion at the World Cup – the final group-stage tie in 1966 when England won 2-0 en route to the trophy.

Southgate has another France game in his thoughts, rather lower profile and less emotional but of real significance in terms of his England journey. It came in June 2017 at the Stade de France – his only managerial clash against Les Bleus – a 3-2 friendly defeat in which the gap between the nations was mapped out in graphic detail.

Gareth Southgate during an England training session in Al Wakrah. — Gareth Southgate is relaxed during an England training session in Al Wakrah. Photograph: Molly Darlington/Reuters

An 18-year-old Kylian Mbappé ran riot and so did Ousmane Dembélé. France were quicker, stronger, superior in every department. They had Raphaël Varane sent off when he conceded a penalty for 2-2 but it felt as though France had the extra man thereafter, Dembélé’s winner the least they deserved.

That was then, this is now and England approach the quarter-final as a team transformed – not only in personnel – comfortable in themselves and their system. Belief is high and it was reinforced by the manner of their 3-0 win against Senegal in the last 16.

Declan Rice was asked whether France ought to fear England rather than it being the other way around – as perhaps it was in 2017. “Yes,” the midfielder replied. “I don’t think we get the credit we deserve. If Holland and Argentina win their games comfortably, they get called masterclasses.

“With us, it always gets picked off. The negative things always come that way. If you look at the last couple of games, it’s been faultless. I think countries should be starting to fear us now because we’re a great team.”

Jude Bellingham, the man of the moment, also caught the mood. “We’re getting to that point now, confidence-wise, where we think we can try and take on anyone. We play with a fearlessness. Especially as young boys, we don’t really care about who we’re playing against.”

It is easy to worry about Mbappé. As England made the coach journey to the Senegal game, Luke Shaw said that they were able to watch the last 20 minutes of France’s 3-1 win against Poland. Mbappé scored twice during the period, giving him five for the tournament, a grip on the Golden Boot and a channel into the minds of England’s defenders.

It would be naive to focus purely on Mbappé. France have other threats. And yet his presence, his ability to produce at the decisive moment, is by some distance the most insistent line of questioning for Southgate and his players. How to stop Mbappé?

Kylian Mbappé scores France’s third goal against Poland and his fifth of the tournament with a right-foot shot. — Kylian Mbappé scores France’s third goal against Poland and his fifth of the tournament. Photograph: Buda Mendes/Getty Images

England have made it this far in a 4-3-3 system, the balance of the midfield key. Since Jordan Henderson has come into the team, he has provided a measure of security around Bellingham, allowing the 19-year-old the freedom to push higher, to force turnovers, to drive with the ball. Rice adds his own qualities in front of the defence.

There has long been the feeling that when England face an elite-level opponent, Southgate will revert to a back three – using Kieran Trippier at right wing-back and Kyle Walker at right centre-half. This would offer a double bolt against Mbappé, who has operated off the left.

As an aside, it was a concern to see how the Senegal winger Ismaïla Sarr beat Walker and got away from him in one first-half incident. Walker, who had to foul him, fortunately escaping a yellow card, has played only twice since groin surgery on 4 October.

Southgate knows what everybody at home will want; stick with the back four, try to be assertive in midfield. If England are to lose, then better to go out swinging. He appeared to suggest that he was thinking along those lines, although there remains plenty of time before the game.

“We’re wanting to be positive and we feel we’ve done that so far in this tournament,” Southgate said, when asked whether he was considering a safer approach. “We’ve got energy in the team, we’ve got depth in the squad. So I don’t think we should be drifting too far from what we’ve been. You’ve obviously got to make allowances for the opposition and find out where you can exploit them but we’ve got good players to come in, as well.”

Declan Rice

Rice made an upbeat final point, attacking the criticism that has followed England’s performances in the first half-hour of games – and the first halves against the USA and Wales.

“Against the big teams, there has always been a lot of talk about us using the ball,” Rice said. “In this tournament, we’ve pretty much controlled every game. We’ve had a fair share of possession, we’ve moved it really well.

“The opening stages [of games] have been really shaky because teams are really trying to stop us playing. But once we get that goal, they have to change. It opens up and then you really start to see us play. Against France, we’ve seen some weaknesses in them that we can try to exploit. It’s set up for a great game.”

Phil Foden gives seminal display to show England he really is sensational | World Cup 2022

A very normal thing happened on Sunday night. Phil Foden was sensational. I do not want to oversell this. There is no deep or meaningful theme here.

There are no hidden layers or wider significances, no political or cultural context. It rests almost entirely on a single argument, and the argument is that Foden is sensational. If you are not on board with this idea, the next 840 words may not be for you.

Foden was sensational but he was sensational in a very normal way. He set up two goals, for Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka, and was instrumental in the other. The rest of the time he simply did lots of Foden things: sacrificial runs up the left wing, neat link play, tidy defensive covering.

None of this was new to anyone who has seen him playing for Manchester City every week. You do not need me to tell you that Foden is sensational.

And yet by the same token it feels worth dwelling on just how sensational Foden was here. Because in England’s era of extreme competence there is a danger that nights like these, games like these, performances like these, somehow become normalised. There has been no outburst of national hysteria: no Gazza explosion, no Owen moment, no Rooney-mania. Foden’s image does not hang from one of Doha’s many skyscrapers.

Even in the aftermath of this 3-0 win against Senegal it was Jude Bellingham who seemed to attract the bulk of the tributes, Kane who claimed the player-of-the-match award (although when asked who really deserved it, Foden was the first name Kane mentioned). Here, as for much of his career to date, Foden’s gift was assimilated, priced in, accepted as established fact.

Perhaps, in the long run, this is for the best: a long-overdue recession in the hype economy of English football. In a sense Foden’s curse has been to spend his entire career surrounded by very good footballers in a successful team. There is no real sense of trajectory, no demons to slay, no haters to conquer. Foden was born sensational and everyone knew it. At no point has he really had the capacity to surprise us.

And yet something here was new. For the first time in a tournament game, Foden started on the left wing, after a successful audition in the second half against Wales. This is the position he has most often played at club level, and even if Pep Guardiola has shifted him around this season it currently remains his best role for two reasons.

Bukayo Saka (right) celebrates with Phil Foden and Harry Kane after scoring England’s third goal against Senegal. — Phil Foden celebrates with Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka after England’s third goal against Senegal. Photograph: Michael Regan/FIFA/Getty Images

First, he remains primarily a creator rather than a killer. By contrast Raheem Sterling, England’s first-choice left-winger for some years, increasingly sees himself as a goalscorer these days. He tries to take up central positions, instinctively makes diagonal runs into the space Harry Kane leaves behind. And of course he does it very well, but it has its implications. Foden, by contrast, is less concerned about getting himself into scoring positions. This largely explains his England scoring record of three goals in 21 games.

Second, Foden is a left-footer, one of just four in a squad of 26 players. This sounds a little antediluvian, a little “swing it in for the big man, Jason Wilcox”. But for a player as gifted as Foden, it gives him options. His default run is around the outside of the right‑back, rather than in between the full-back and the centre-half. Not only does this stretch defences and allow him to cross on his stronger foot, but it creates the sort of gaps that players such as Bellingham eat for brunch.

Consider England’s first goal, a move finished by Jordan Henderson and set up by Bellingham but started with a deft back‑heeled flick from Foden by the left touchline. In fact, Foden is just inside the England half when he receives the ball and his momentum takes him off the pitch.

If you are a forward with your eyes fixed on goal, you could scarcely find yourself in a worse position. But crucially Foden has taken the right-back Youssouf Sabaly with him. And Sabaly is done. He is out of the game. Senegal are now trying to defend an attack on their right flank without their right-back. Chaos ensues.

And this is what gets missed in the focus on Foden’s indifferent goal record. He makes room for others to play. He greases the wheels. He has an otherworldly first touch and an ability to keep the ball under extreme pressure. He can lay the ball off first-time for Kane to score England’s second and he can set up the third with a cross through the legs of Kalidou Koulibaly, because he’s Foden and that’s just what he does.

On Saturday England were playing a small-sided training exercise with mini-goals, designed to encourage quick feet and precise finishing. At one point Foden simply beat two opponents, dribbled past the goal and then back-heeled it past a stunned Saka. Nobody went crazy. Foden’s teammates did not clasp their faces and mob him in glee, as often happens. He’s Foden. That’s just what he does.

England have strolled into the quarter-finals with barely a headache. This equalled their highest win in a World Cup knockout match. They have scored 12 goals in four games without a single penalty. And they have done it with some of the most gifted and likeable footballers ever to leave these shores. It may feel normal. But it really isn’t.

Jude Bellingham’s moment of cinema makes us wonder where this might go | World Cup 2022

England’s second goal just before half-time at Al Bayt Stadium, the goal that killed this World Cup last-16 tie, was a pure Jude Bellingham moment. Watching the three white England shirts surge and veer like an aerial display team across that wide-open lozenge of green, it almost felt like a moment of show-Bellingham, a gloss to go with all the close-quarter moments in between, the moments of graft that had kept England in this game in its early stages.

This, though, was pure cinema. England had been flat at times in the first half against Senegal, had seemed to be playing with a tension headache. But they were 1-0 up when Bellingham picked the ball up forty yards from his own goal, shrugged his way into space, and looked up. You could almost hear the whirr of maths being crunched, lanes and distances overlaid, prelude to a moment of calculated abandon as Bellingham surged for the open space, sensing the tender point in front of him.

This was a cold decision, a calculated piece of timing. But it also just looked like fun, the pure pleasure in finding no resistance, of being able to move through all that lighted space. And Bellingham can move.

He has that easy, lengthening stride, a man who always seems to be running downhill. He veered away from one green shirt, bumped another off, then funnelled the perfect pass into Phil Foden’s path, haring away down the left. Foden knew what to do. The pass inside was perfect to Harry Kane, who, frankly, just wasn’t capable of missing this.

It wasn’t really a finish, more a release of anger, a goal-vomit, the ball smashed into a spot close to the centre of the net with an audible shout. And it was fitting that Bellingham should make it, should have provided the key part in the key moment of a game that might have run away from England early on, but which ended in a disarmingly routine 3-0 victory. Because he was magnificent in those difficult moments, a source of control when it felt like this thing was close to the edge.

This is a player who can basically do anything, who has the full quiver of midfield skills, who can pass and score and dribble, who can set the tempo or disrupt it.

And of course, as we know, he can surge. And that newly installed mobility in the centre is perhaps the single most exciting thing about this late-stage Southgate team, the part that makes you start to wonder, soberly, where this thing might end. The idea of the surging box-to-box player the rampaging run-shoot-tackle creature, a kind of midfield wildebeest, is baked into English football lore.

Bellingham gets a pat on the back from Gareth Southgate. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

The surge-midfielder seems to occupy the same mental space as heavy cavalry, as the Lancaster bomber. We think of Bryan Robson, shoulder in a sling, head bandaged, pounding through some pre-modern quagmire, or Steven Gerrard in full gallop-mode, ears whirring, knees pumping.

There haven’t actually been many of them. In reality this thing, like so many others in the same area, has often been a puzzle of uneven capacities.

Bellingham is not this, he is more like a supercharged, high-spec modern upgrade. Has there been there a more rounded, more compelling central midfielder on Qatar’s lighted stages in the opening four games of this World Cup?

Bar Bukayo Saka in for Marcus Rashford, Gareth Southgate picked the same team as last time for this knockout game. And that is now just the right team. No drama, no fudge no gambles, no need to tinker. The three-man midfield is a genuine strength for England. It has been a slightly haphazard process to get here.

But Bellingham-Rice-Henderson is the most balanced midfield England have had in the Southgate era, in the age of Hodgson, or indeed any era you care to mention going right back through the strangled and weirdly four-square attempts to make the years of plenty work under Sven-Göran Eriksson. It was the midfield that made and also scored the opening goal. And of course it was Bellingham again, running ahead of Kane, taking a lovely, pass into his stride, waiting, waiting some more, then glancing up to register the shape in his peripheral vision. The cut back was perfect too, snaked inside the full back as he kept running. Henderson was already there, the finish a lovely soft, easy action.

The celebration between the two was just as engrossing, a combination of forehead-to-forehead man-shouting, followed by a genuinely tender hug.

Bellingham had spoken about Henderson in the week. There are 13 years between them, but they clearly have a bond. And Henderson is a vital player in that newly-minted three in ways that extend beyond his basic ability to run and pass and cover. Essentially, Henderson is England’s grown-up in there, willing and able to be horrible, to be less elegant and less technical than Bellingham and Declan Rice, but also willing to snipe at the referee, to waste time and step on the penalty spot, to run the weaselly parts of a game. Henderson is that guy. You need that guy.

There is a chance England’s 4-3-3 may be sacrificed in the next game if Southgate feels alarmed enough by the idea of Harry Maguire exposed to France’s speed in attack.

It is to be hoped he retains this bolder shape. England have looked a weary team at times during this World Cup. In that midfield three they have found a rare balance, and a rare point of strength. It deserves to be tested.

England sweep past Senegal to set up World Cup quarter-final with France | World Cup 2022

From first to last, the drum beats were relentless from the small section of Senegal supporters. They pounded in the temples of everybody present, creating an oppressive backdrop to this high-stakes occasion. It was one in which England had to show their concentration, their resilience, their quality. How they succeeded, lengthening their stride after a sticky start to set up a mouthwatering quarter-final against France on Saturday back here at Al Bayt.

England stayed calm when Senegal threatened to turn the first half into an ordeal for them and, when they had their opportunities, they made them count. Jordan Henderson does not score many at this level but he was there to get things started and, when Harry Kane made it 2-0 before half-time, it felt as though Senegal were broken.

It was Kane’s first goal at this World Cup. He knew it would come. He even said so during the build-up. The rush of elation for him was familiar but it still felt impossibly good. As it did for Bukayo Saka, who scored the third just before the hour – his third of the tournament.

Gareth Southgate could feel a measure of vindication for the decision to recall him at the expense of Marcus Rashford – the hero of the victory over Wales in the final group tie.

More than the goalscorers, though, it was Jude Bellingham who made it happen. It was the 19-year-old who flung himself into challenges at the outset as England struggled and it was he who ignited the moves for the first two goals.

It added up to Southgate’s sixth knock-out win at major tournaments – England have 15 in total – and it added a layer of resonance to what he had said on Saturday, his line about feeling there was the potential for another “incredible journey” at these finals. A third consecutive clean sheet was another bonus. England can hear the knock of opportunity.

The two-goal half-time lead was what Southgate would have dreamed about but his team took their time to find their groove. The truth was that they laboured until Henderson’s breakthrough in the 37th minute. Their passing lacked zip and the centre-halves, Harry Maguire and John Stones, lived on the edge at times.

Harry Kane thrashes his shot home to make it 2-0 to England, his first goal of this World Cup. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

England would enjoy an almighty let-off on 22 minutes and it followed a loose Maguire pass. Krépin Diatta intercepted and drove, crossing from the right and that was when the ball broke off Boulaye Dia, who had challenged with Stones, and fell for Ismaïla Sarr. Did it catch Stones’s hand? No. Sarr had to score. Instead, he blazed high from six yards.

Senegal played on the front foot in the first half, moving the ball nicely, hinting at problems for England. Their supporters made their side-to-side dance moves in mesmeric sync. The tie could have taken another unwanted turn for England after the half-hour. Again, the passing was loose, Saka giving the ball away to Sarr and, when he played in Dia, the striker bought a yard off Stones to the left of goal and shot. Jordan Pickford showed excellent reflexes to make the save.

At that point, England had offered next to nothing as an attacking force. Then they made their play and it was exhilarating, Bellingham at the heart of the transformation. It was a flick from Phil Foden that started the move for the opener and, when Kane looked up the left flank, Bellingham was already running, taking the pass in his rangy stride, Senegal hearts quickening. Bellingham’s cut-back was a thing of beauty, all vision and perfect weighting. Henderson’s left-footed finish was true.

Senegal were rocked and England sought to find the knockout. Saka’s cross was behind Kane, who could not adjust, lifting high, while Luke Shaw took a poor touch after stepping up to win the ball and swapping passes with the irrepressible Bellingham. It took Shaw away from goal at the crucial moment.

England’s second was the slickest of counters, Bellingham the catalyst, winning the ball as Senegal pushed in the final third and flicking on the afterburners. He eased away from one would-be tackler and found Foden, who knew where Kane was and found him with a short switch. Over to Kane. One-on-one with Édouard Mendy, he had time to think about it. Good. He concentrated on the connection and it was sweet, the shot zinging into the far corner.

Southgate had been unable to select Raheem Sterling because the winger had to return to London after his family home was burgled and it was surely a tough call to omit Rashford. As Southgate has stressed, however, it is not only about the starting XI.

Senegal’s fine start morphed dramatically into a nightmare for them and it was all over when Saka scored, moments after Mendy had almost spilled a Kane blast from distance.

England’s ability to win the ball high up was a factor in their supremacy and, when Shaw did so on the left, they were up and running again. Kane was involved and it was Foden who played the final pass, a low cross from the left, which Saka read before his marker, Ismail Jakobs. Saka’s dinked finish was too good for Mendy.

England had put an unbeaten record against African opposition on the line. Never in 20 previous meetings with opposition from the continent had they lost and that took in seven World Cup ties – the most famous of which was surely the quarter-final win over Cameroon at Italia 90. This one might not be remembered as a classic; it came to feel too comfortable. It was no less important.

World Cup 2022 briefing: Business time for England against Senegal | World Cup

The main event

After all that noise – the joy, the triumphalism, the entitlement, the schadenfreude, the self-loathing – England had the best record of any team in the group stage at Qatar 2022. It shows how far they have come under Gareth Southgate that seven points and nine goals, the latter a record for England at a major tournament, was not enough to please Twitter’s finest.

Even in the hysterical world of the England national team, it’s hard to remember the last time that the balance between on-field achievement and off-field angst was so far out of whack, and that is unlikely to change unless England win handsomely against Senegal tonight. After a semi-final in 2018 and a final last year, the louder elements of the media, traditional and social, have come to a near unanimous conclusion: Southgate is holding England back.

The received wisdom is that England have an embarrassment of riches in attacking areas. Fine players though they are, we might be confusing the excellence of the Premier League with that of the national team. Since England became good again in 2018, a total of 10,158 voting points have been available at the Ballon d’Or. (Bear with us, this isn’t as boring as it sounds.) Premier League players picked up 3,431 of them, or 33.78%. But English players received only 86, or 0.85%. That’s less than Eden Hazard, and he has barely played in the last three years. For all his imperfections, most obviously his indecisive in-game management, Southgate has significantly overachieved with a squad that is not as talented as the “golden generation” of the mid-2000s.

Senegal, who they face tonight, have been filed under “awkward opponent but one England should beat”. England have never lost to an African team, a statistic that has been cited frequently in the buildup. Despite 30 years of watching players as stylistically diverse as Nwankwo Kanu, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Jay-Jay Okocha and Yaya Touré in the Premier League, there is a perceived homogeneity to African football that doesn’t reflect well on English football’s subconscious.

France are also in action today, taking on a Poland side who qualified for the last 16 with their tail between their legs. It should be a joyous occasion, Poland’s first knockout game at the World Cup since a closer-than-it-sounds 4-0 defeat by Brazil in 1986, but their pitiful performance against Argentina – no shots on target, no ambition, but only one yellow card – has changed the mood. It depends on what happens against France, but when the story of Poland’s 2022 campaign is written, historians may conclude that it would have been better to go out with a bang than through with a whimper.

England have no such choice. Unless they go through with a bang against Senegal, the knives – and the hashtags – will probably be out. RS

Talking points

Netherlands ease into last eight
Since Louis van Gaal took charge the Netherlands are unbeaten in 19 matches. In yesterday’s ruthless 3-1 dismissal of the USA they appeared to be a team playing within themselves, still with plenty of room for improvement in their quarter-final against Argentina – and perhaps beyond. There was a smidgen of defensive vulnerability to be seen when the USA fought back to 2-1 in the second half, but that recovery was swiftly squashed by a third Dutch goal, scored by the exceptional Denzel Dumfries. If nothing else, neutrals should hope the Netherlands stay in the tournament for the mental stimulation being offered by Van Gaal. Every time he speaks it seems to be something amusing, insightful or both. “Yesterday I gave him a big, fat kiss,” Van Gaal said of Dumfries, who was sitting beside him in the press conference. “And I’m going to give him another big, fat kiss.” As always, he meant what he said. LMc

A moment to forget for Australia’s Ryan
The manner of Australia’s exit was particularly painful for the goalkeeper Mathew Ryan after his blunder handed Argentina their second goal, slotted in by Julián Álvarez. Kye Rowles’ back pass wasn’t ideal, and hindsight is always a wonderful thing, but the effectiveness and urgency of Argentina’s pressing at that moment meant the Socceroos goalkeeper would have been wise to put his foot through the ball and aim for Row Z. Instead Ryan lost the ball and Álvarez did the rest. The margins would have been tight regardless but when they were chasing the game, Australia showed the vulnerability that clearly exists at the heart of Argentina’s defence. They will wonder what might have been but Ryan, and the Socceroos collectively, can be proud of how they performed in Qatar. LMc

Julián Álvarez pounces on a Mat Ryan mistake to put Argentina 2-0 up. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Beyond the football

With drama aplenty in the group stage, stories in the global media have largely focused on the thrilling football – exactly as Qatar’s Supreme Committee and Fifa want it. Sean Ingle reports that the country is so happy with how the tournament has gone that it can be a springboard to hosting the biggest sporting event of all, the Olympic Games. The Guardian understands the country is ready to flex its muscles again and bid to stage the Games in the autumn of 2036, despite having failed with bids three times in the past. Ingle reports there is “growing optimism in Doha” that this World Cup will prove they can host the Olympics. But there will be obstacles, from LGBTQ+ rights to commercial concerns from the IOC after Qatar’s 11th-hour alcohol ban at stadiums. GB

Global media-watch

There was disappointment in the US after the national team were brushed aside by the Netherlands. “The subpar play from practically the entire team counts as a major disappointment,” wrote Jeff Carlisle for ESPN. In the Washington Post, Steven Goff wrote: “The US men’s team had reached the knockout stage with a blend of defensive excellence, precocious poise and unflinching confidence – but these things were missing [on] Saturday.”

Tim Ream reflects on defeat at the final whistle. Photograph: Noushad Thekkayil/EPA

In Australia, journalists digesting the Socceroos’ early-morning exit were more sanguine. “One piece of genius from the greatest player of all time, and a rare mistake from one of Australia’s most loyal servants. In a sport defined by razor-thin margins, sometimes, that’s just the way it goes,” accepted Vince Rugari in the Sydney Morning Herald. The Guardian’s own Emma Kemp wrote: “This was not a bad performance. It was a very good performance with all the makings of another upset; the moving mass of blue-and-white tension in the stands confirmed it to be so.”

Meanwhile in South Korea, the official World Cup anthem Dreamers, featuring Jungkook of BTS fame, is getting plenty of airtime as they savour a place in the Round of 16 following the dramatic late win against Portugal. Not a patch on Shakira’s 2010 World Cup banger, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), but admittedly that’s a high bar. LMc/NMc

The internet reacts

No social media post was more gratefully received by the world of football than the one posted by Pelé on Instagram. After a day of reports that the Brazil legend was receiving end-of-life care, Pelé shared a positive update from his hospital, adding that he felt “strong” and “with a lot of hope”. The 82-year-old, still the only player to win three World Cups in his career, will continue treatment, and we wish him well. NMc

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Elsewhere, plenty of people enjoyed Luis Suárez bawling his eyes out after Uruguay were dumped out of the World Cup. The former Liverpool forward sat on the bench for the final 24 minutes (plus an age of injury time) after being replaced by Edinson Cavani. He went through most of the emotions available to humanity; happiness, fear and eventually just tears, partially hidden behind his light blue shirt. Patrice Evra later liked an Instagram post of Suárez looking like his mother had just thrown a beloved teddy bear into a skip. It is not the first time Suárez has cut onions after a football match, allowing for a clever ranking system. WU

Ranking Luis Suarez crying.

A thread 🧵

Uruguay knocked out of the Qatar 2022 World Cup against Ghana, team he prevented from advancing in the QF in 2010 by handling a goal-bound header.

9.5/10 pic.twitter.com/Mbt8GN1BjX

— Danny Armstrong (@DannyWArmstrong) December 2, 2022

Today’s matches

France v Poland (Round of 16, 3pm GMT, BBC1)
“They [Poland] have a hardcore of players with good experience,” Didier Deschamps said in his pre-match press conference. “There is [Wojciech] Szczesny, [Kamil] Glik, [Robert] Lewandowski and you have to respect what this team does, they deserve to be there. Szczesny was decisive.” The France head coach knows their last-16 opponents have enough quality to cause an upset – and some “hardcore” individuals with enough experience to rile France. Szczesny has been in fine form in Qatar, while Lewandowski has broken his World Cup duck and will be confident of causing problems for the French centre-backs. France’s second string were appalling against Tunisia, a sign they Deschamps does not have much in reserve. If Poland can keep it tight until deep into the game, they will hope to crank up the pressure on the reigning champions. WU

Anyone for penalties? Wojciech Szczesny saves Lionel Messi’s spot-kick against Argentina. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP

England v Senegal (Round of 16, 7pm GMT, ITV1)
Senegal are missing a number of key players – and potentially their head coach Aliou Cissé due to illness – for this most vital of games. Sadio Mané, Cheikhou Kouyaté and Idrissa Gueye are all missing through a mixture of injury and suspension. Not only are they quality players but possess incredible experience, which will be sorely missed. Their replacements face a tough job to defeat an England team in good form. Sheffield United’s Iliman Ndiaye has already been given a chance in Mané’s absence and impressed in the victory over Ecuador. Nampalys Mendy of Leicester City is another who has knowledge of the opponents thanks to his Premier League employers. Although not a regular for club or country, he has the skills to irritate England’s midfielders, while Chelsea’s Kalidou Koulibaly will be solid behind him. It might not be the optimum Senegal team but there is enough to cause problems to England, who need to avoid complacency. WU

Player to watch

Iliman Ndiaye When England take on Senegal, they ought to watch out for the lad from Bramall Lane. A non-league youth player with Boreham Wood three years ago, Ndiaye has come a long way since signing for Sheffield United in 2019. An unused substitute against the Netherlands, he made a second-half cameo against Qatar and, 10 minutes after coming on, danced through three attempted tackles before laying on an assist for Bamba Dieng. Having started the win against Ecuador and produced a lively performance, the 22-year-old has grown in stature as the tournament has gone on. Even if Aliou Cissé decides to use him from the bench, he could be a threat. WU

And finally

Japan’s success in topping Group E ahead of Spain and Germany has surprised their next opponents as much as anyone. “We did not expect this,” said the Croatia midfielder Lovro Majer before the last-16 meeting on Monday evening. “I think hardly anyone expected that, but hats off to Japan. They showed that it is not names that are playing, but what is more important is heart and courage.” Japan defeated Germany despite having 29% possession, while they overcame Spain with just 22%. “Possession means nothing in football today,” said Josip Juranovic, the Croatia right-back, when those stats were put to him. “They play very well as a team and they are fast. But we showed against Canada we can deal with quick teams.” WM

Senegal’s beach ballers aim to cause earthquake by shaking up England | World Cup 2022

There is a daily ritual on Senegal’s beaches that begins just as the sun starts to set at about 5pm. Roughly divided by age, hundreds of young men play football until it gets dark or the tides of the Atlantic Ocean wash away their pitches and the discarded tyres being used as impromptu goalposts.

It only takes a few minutes of watching the dazzling array of skills on show to understand why Teranga Lions have won Africa’s Beach Soccer Cup of Nations on seven of the past nine occasions, although it needed another penalty shootout victory over Egypt to claim their fourth successive title in October.

It is no accident that last season Senegal, with 51, was the African country with the highest number of players in the top five European leagues – a total that put them 10th on the global list. Thanks to the pathway provided by academies such as Dakar’s Génération Foot – which helped to produce Sadio Mané and Ismaïla Sarr because of its links with the French club Metz – a country with a population of 17 million continues to punch above its weight.

The president, Macky Sall, awarded every player in Senegal’s squad £64,000 and two plots of land for their shootout victory against Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations Cup final in February in recognition of their historic triumph. But Saer Seck, who set up the Diambars academy with the Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira in 2003, believes that achievement could be topped by beating England at the World Cup in Sunday’s last-16 showdown. “It would be an earthquake,” he says. “This a very big moment for the team and everyone is prepared to play the game of his life.”

Diambars, situated in Saly on Senegal’s Petite Côte, is where Idrissa Gueye and Saliou Ciss began their careers before joining clubs in Europe. But with the team’s talisman Mané out of the tournament and the experienced defender Ciss not selected, Cheikhou Kouyaté sidelined by a hamstring injury sustained against the Netherlands and Gueye suspended, the coach, Aliou Cissé, will face England without four of the side that started against Egypt in Yaoundé.

“With Sadio it’s another story,” says Seck, a former vice-president of the Senegalese Football Association. “The team is no longer individuals because the strongest is not here, so we have to fight together to succeed. But each team has its own injuries so we can’t cry about that. Against England we will be missing four players due to injuries and suspensions and they all have a lot of experience. So it’s a different team but they will all be focused and ready to fight.”

In Qatar, Cissé has been happy to allow El Hadji Diouf – a teammate from the side that famously reached the last eight at the 2002 World Cup – to do most of the talking. The former Liverpool forward is Sall’s special adviser for sport as he targets becoming president of the Senegalese FA one day, although there is no doubt who calls the shots when it comes to the team.

“Aliou has proved he is an excellent coach with very strong and solid knowledge of the game,” says Seck. “He has been in football for more than 30 years and has been our manager since 2015. All his boys understand what he is telling them to do in preparation for the games. And this is enough to inspire them to follow him when they go on to the pitch. Having Aliou Cissé in charge of this team is one of our biggest strengths.”

Aliou Cissé ahead of Senegal’s World Cup group match against Qatar — Aliou Cissé has led Senegal to Africa Cup of Nations success and now the knockout stage of the World Cup. Photograph: Sarah Stier/Fifa/Getty Images

Khalilou Fadiga, a former Bolton and Coventry winger and another member of the famous 2002 side who were defeated by Turkey after shocking the holders France in the opening match thanks to Papa Bouba Diop’s winner, is also in Qatar to add his experience to the Senegal party. But could the ice-cool Cissé, who captained that team before playing for Birmingham and Portsmouth in the Premier League, become the first African manager in the Premier League one day?

“If you had one clever president in the Premier League I think that he could be a very good manager,” says Seck. “I’ve been very close to him in the management of the national team for a long time so I know him very well and I’m sure he has the ability to lead a very good project in club football. And I know that Aliou Cissé is prepared to go there and make it.”

For now, Cissé has his sights set on making more history against England. After the victory in Seoul over their former colonial masters France 20 years ago Senegal’s then president, Abdoulaye Wade, declared a national holiday and Seck is adamant that overcoming Gareth Southgate’s side could have even more significance.

“This would be more historic because it would mean a place in the quarter-finals,” he says. “I think that England are the favourites but the game is not yet over. We are talking about football and, in football, faith is very important. Our team has faith, courage and we will fight. It won’t be easy for England – there’s definitely a quiet confidence about our team. Let’s see what happens but we will be ready to take our chance.”

Diverse World Cup knockout stage a leap forward for Africa and Asia | World Cup 2022

Amid the stultifying debate over whether the ball had crossed the byline before Ao Tanaka’s winner for Japan against Spain, something more important was lost. The goal ultimately ensured that, for the first time, every inhabited continent was represented in a World Cup last 16. Less than a day would pass before South Korea enhanced Asia’s contingent, guaranteeing the most diverse knockout stage in the tournament’s history.

It makes for a mouthwatering set of ties and will also be music to the ears of Qatar, which assiduously posits itself as a unifying force regardless of evidence to the contrary. Hosting a competition with a greater global spread of participants than any other is not hard to spin positively: the mix is a consequence of drama that, after a slow start, gave this group stage a claim to be the best ever on pure footballing terms.

Those outside Europe and South America have particular cause to agree. Six countries from beyond football’s traditional powerhouse continents have reached the knockout stage and, in the nine previous iterations to include a last 16, that had never been done. Africa has matched its best performance in qualifying two of its five entrants, Morocco and Senegal, without the presence of stars such as Sadio Mané, Riyad Mahrez, Victor Osimhen and Mohamed Salah; Asia has equalled its high watermark of 2002. The Asian confederation can claim its best performance given Australia have fallen under its aegis since 2006.

What does any of this mean? It may be folly to draw sweeping conclusions given, for those not in Europe, small allocations mean the line between perceived success and failure can be wafer thin. One result can change everything. Only four years have passed since Africa was soul-searching after failing to send anyone beyond the group stage, Didier Drogba describing it as “a big step back”.

Now it can point to a World Cup that, on one level, has already been its best: African teams have won a record seven matches in Qatar and only a decent Ghana side, whose fortunes turned on André Ayew’s early penalty miss against Uruguay, recorded fewer than four points. The standard of football in Africa has not rollercoastered that wildly over the past half-decade in practice.

“It’s very, very difficult to get far if you have five slots,” the then Ghana manager, Otto Addo, pointed out after their opening defeat by Portugal. “If you have 12 or 14 slots the probability that a team will get further is much, much higher.”

Africa will have at least nine sides at the expanded World Cup in 2026, one of whose vanishingly few blessings is that increased allocations for the previously less favoured regions should make it easier to detect trends. Asia’s contingent will rise by at least two. A third of the slots will come from Europe, down from its current share of 40%.

Given hopeful proclamations of a new world order did not come to pass after 2002, when Senegal joined the cohosts South Korea in the quarter-finals, optimism about a wider levelling up should be tempered. But the idea is not entirely fanciful. It was striking to hear the Morocco coach, Walid Megraoui, speaking after the tight goalless draw with Croatia that set the foundations for his team’s later success.

Abderrazak Hamdallah challenges Luka Modric as Morocco match Croatia in their group opener. Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP

“We played like a European team and that’s why I am so happy,” he said. “If we had played brilliantly and lost then everyone would be very upset. We played in a very solid way like a European team and made it difficult for them to play against us. We need to look at African specifics and understand how to win when a match is tight.”

It suggests that, in a football world of few secrets, the intensely drilled methods honed in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A may finally have seeped down into the more chaotic realm of the international game. Bar Qatar and Saudi Arabia, whose respective fortunes were decidedly mixed, every squad in this tournament has a generous sprinkling of players from those major domestic leagues.

That is hardly new: it has been the case for two decades. But when they are augmented by a generation of tactically smart, quick-thinking coaches who understand how to harness the qualities taught abroad in a short preparation time, perhaps it heralds the next step. “The gold standard in the world,” is how the Japan coach, Hajime Moriyasu, referred to European football before defeating Spain. The Japanese game has had strong links with Germany in particular for many years.

On one level, such assessments breed discomfort: the instinctive thought is that Asian and African sides should not feel compelled to eschew their own styles in deference to theories honed in Manchester, Munich and Madrid. Homogenisation should not be the only way. But that is where football has long been headed and it becomes more palatable if the “European” benchmark is seen as a global one, practised by players and coaches from across the world, that happens to have taken hold there.

South American teams have long trodden a successful balance between what works locally and abroad. But this has been an unprepossessing World Cup for Conmebol so far, only two of their teams progressing. That has only happened twice before. Brazil and Argentina both began the tournament with convincing claims to go all the way but, even if Ecuador and Uruguay would both have qualified with four points in a different year, there is no support acts in the knockout stage.

Again, those fine margins: seven of the eight groups contained a team that missed out despite recording a win and a draw. It means nobody has too much cause to fret; if hitherto unheralded outposts are expressing themselves more volubly now, it simply means this tournament is doing the job it should. And even if Europe has only twice been represented more thinly than this in a last 16, a 50% share of the places still tells a tale.

For all the analysis and grasping for reasons, on Saturday night an Australian striker called Mitchell Duke from the Japanese second-tier side Fagiano Okayama will have had reasonable cause to believe he can outgun Lionel Messi and Argentina. Maybe that, more than anything else, speaks of the breadth that lies in front of us.

Iliman Ndiaye’s rise from Sunday league to Senegal World Cup ace | World Cup 2022

Iliman Ndiaye wanted to perfect his skills so much they had to turn off the lights at Hyde United’s Ewen Fields to make sure he got the last train home. Being sent on loan from the Premier League to the seventh tier may not seem like the most attractive proposition for a teenager but the Sheffield United forward embraced his spell in the Northern Premier League.

Ndiaye, 22, who will face England with Senegal in the World Cup on Sunday, had been playing Sunday league football in the months before Sheffield United took him on a week’s trial in 2019 after he was spotted by the scout Steve Holmes. Ndiaye played in two trial matches and impressed the coaches with his fitness, aggression and skill. They offered a contract but he almost did not join because Marseille, where he had spent time in the academy as a young boy, were due compensation. Holmes and the coach Travis Binnion convinced United to pay up.

From the pittance the club paid, Ndiaye is now worth millions. Nottingham Forest were keen on him in the summer before they acquired Jesse Lingard. His path to the Premier League started during his short spell with Hyde in 2020 after their then manager, David McGurk, and his assistant John McCombe spotted him playing for Sheffield United Under-23s.

At Hyde, he travelled from Sheffield for training twice a week and would amaze teammates with his dazzling footwork and ability to balance the ball on his head for a minute. Ndiaye’s work ethic also stood out.

His father would do daily sessions with a young Ndiaye, often in the woods, where he acquired his industrious attitude. The respect of teammates was quickly earned; seeing how pivotal he was to their chances, players would go out of their way to ensure he got home safely.

“There were games where he was so far ahead of everyone,” McGurk says. “It got to the point with us where we said: ‘Wherever you are on the pitch, give him the ball. No matter how tightly marked he is, give him the ball.’ We just wanted him on the ball as much as possible. He would start on the left but we gave him the freedom to do what he wanted.

“It can be a detriment to the squad if you are focusing on one player but the lads just appreciated it and they were happy to give him the ball. I have never seen a player that good at this level. I would turn up on a Saturday excited to watch the team as a manager because he was in it.”

Iliman Ndiaye

A family visit to Senegal when the France-born Ndiaye was a one-year-old started his obsession with football. He would kick anything in sight, forcing his grandad to take action and acquire a ball for him. Since then it has barely left his feet. In France he would play in cages, learning how to deceive opponents. Scouts took notice and he was signed by Marseille.

The family chose to move to Senegal for a period, forcing Ndiaye to leave his Marseille dreams behind. He joined Dakar Sacré-Cœur and went from honing his skills at one of Europe’s elite clubs to practising on sand pitches and at the beach, ensuring his ball control was impeccable. Ndiaye’s father then found work in England, resulting in a move to London aged 14. The teenager arrived unable to speak English, so his dad sent him to football camps where he could express himself. Eight years on, Ndiaye speaks with a north London twang.

He would combine studying with playing for Boreham Wood’s youth teams, eventually making it on to their first-team bench on a couple of occasions without making a National League appearance.

To maintain fitness, he played Sunday league games for Rising Ballers in London before being snapped up by Sheffield United.

When Ndiaye arrived at Bramall Lane they thought his understanding of the game needed working on but he had a real will to learn. Hyde were a key part of that education. “He is destined for the top,” McGurk says. “We told him that after one of the games.

“We said: ‘You’ve got absolutely everything – you are not going to be playing at this level again after you go back to Sheffield United.’ I am surprised by how rapidly it has happened but he has got everything to play at the top level.”

The following season he was given his Premier League debut – at Leicester – and just over a year later he represented Senegal.

“We’ve played a very small part but you do take pride in giving the kid an opportunity with the move to Hyde,” McGurk says. “Sheffield United v Burnley was on the TV, and you watch with a sense of pride because he is doing exactly the same thing to Burnley defenders that he was doing to defenders in our league.”

England will take comfort in the one blot on Ndiaye’s brief Hyde career: a skied penalty in a Cheshire Senior Cup match against Vauxhall Motors. He has certainly come a long way in a short time since.

‘Senegal is the best’: Dakar’s dreaming of World Cup upset | Senegal

Just under 4,500 miles (7,200km) away from the shiny stadiums in Qatar, a man named Serigne Fallou confidently proclaims that he already knows what the result will be on Sunday when England take on Senegal in the World Cup’s round of 16.

“Absolutely, Senegal will win, 1-0,” says Fallou, an apartment doorman in Dakar, Senegal’s bustling capital on the Atlantic Ocean. “I don’t have a doubt.”

People watching a World Cup match at a restaurant on the Dakar coastline. Photograph: Guy Peterson

There’s a buzz in the air in the small west African country, whose Lions of Teranga have been on a hot streak of late. Players such as Sadio Mané, recently traded from Liverpool to Bayern Munich, Kalidou Koulibaly, of Chelsea, and Everton’s Idrissa Gana Gueye star in the European leagues. They bested Mo Salah’s Egypt to win the Africa Cup of Nations this year, sparking multi-day street parties in Dakar that delayed the arrival of the winners – and their trophy – from the airport as they crawled through seven hours of crowd-induced traffic welcoming them home.

A football match on a sand pitch in the northern Dakar neighbourhood of N’gor. Photograph: Guy Peterson

And now, the Senegalese are ready to win what would be their first World Cup.

Street sellers in the capital, thronging with millions of residents, have traded – or added to – their usual stocks of kitchenware, phone chargers or tourist tchotchkes for Senegalese flags, wristbands, headbands and shirts. Jerseys of varying legality go for 5,000 to 15,000 CFA francs (£6.50 to £19.50), with children often running around the street decked out head to toe in full kits before games.

Ablaye Diaby putting up a flag beneath dozens of football shirts on a wall across from his small shop in Dakar. Photograph: Guy Peterson

“They will win. The Senegalese team is the champion of Africa,” says Ousseynou Thioune, who is selling a variety of jerseys and wristbands on a busy boulevard. He bumps up Fallou’s prediction, to 2-0.

“They’re still the Lions, even without Sadio,” Thioune says, referencing the star forward Mané, who was injured in a Bayern game just before the World Cup began.

A woman buying a Senegal football shirt from Ousseynou Thioune (middle left). Photograph: Guy Peterson

When it was announced that the Ballon d’Or runner-up would have to sit out, drama and consternation among the football- and Mané-crazed populace ensued. In the aftermath, one man told France24 that “I cried when I saw” the news.

“With my friends, we were talking about it. There were some who had bought a television [to watch the World Cup] – and they sold it back,” he said.

People set up small goals to play football on a concrete pitch in a residential area of Dakar. Photograph: Guy Peterson

Yet the Lions have more than persevered. Their opening game against Netherlands, resulting in a 2-0 loss, was quickly pushed aside with 3-1 and 2-1 wins over Qatar and Ecuador, respectively.

A young boy looks over a football stadium pitch in a residantial area of Dakar. — A young boy looks over a football stadium pitch in a residential area of Dakar. Photograph: Guy Peterson

“This year, this World Cup, I hope the Africans are going to the final. An African team must qualify. And Senegal is the best,” Thioune says. Along with Senegal, Morocco have also advanced out of the group stage, with Cameroon and Ghana still in with a chance of qualification too going into their final group matches on Friday.

“Football helps people forget about unemployment, it helps people forget about their problems,” Thioune continues. “When there’s football, everybody is talking about football. You’re forced to forget your problems – even the politicians, even the president.”

A Senegalese football fan celebrates during a world cup match at a local sports bar in Dakar. — A Senegalese football fan celebrates during a World Cup match at a local sports bar in Dakar. Photograph: Guy Peterson

In Senegal, the national sport is laamb, a Sumo-like form of traditional wrestling. But like so many other places across the world, football is still the great, globalising equaliser, played everywhere from the country’s pockmarked sandlots to its grand stadiums. When Mané played for Liverpool, it was easy to find television sets and smartphones tuned into the Reds everywhere from Dakar to the smallest villages in Senegal’s rural hinterlands.

“We have [star] players like the English. They play in English championships,” says Ke Ba, a restaurateur who serves up plates of fish, rice, and vegetables – the national dish, thieboudienne – from his small, one-room restaurant. Despite wearing a Manchester jersey, he has no love for the English national team.

“We believe we will win,” he says. “It’s the World Cup – you have to beat the big teams.”

Still, some are hedging their bets.

Djibril serves a customer a breakfast sandwich standing in his corner shop decked out with Senegalese flags and scarves across the shelves. Photograph: Guy Peterson

“No,” says Djibril Diallo, insisting he’s not nervous, per se. But “England – it’s not a small team,” adds the corner store owner, whose shop is dressed up with a Senegalese scarf hanging across a wall of foodstuffs.

“Senegal also, it’s not a small team,” he says. “This match is a bit complicated. Two equals are playing. Two teams, equal. In any case, we’ll pray to God.”

Boys play football on N’Gor beach in Dakar. For many who don’t go to school they spend their days with friends playing the game on the street or on the many beachs around Dakar. — Boys play football on N’Gor beach in Dakar. For many who don’t go to school they spend their days with friends playing the game on the street or on the many beaches around Dakar. Photograph: Guy Peterson

On a nearby beach, young children and adults alike play pick-up games along the shoreline. Even in a worst-case scenario, they’ll be there again on Monday, same as ever, the next generation of Manés, Koulibalys, and Gueyes among them.

El Hadji Diouf accuses England of thinking Senegal are already beaten | World Cup 2022

El Hadji Diouf has accused England of believing they have already beaten Senegal and warned that could lead to another famous World Cup victory for his country.

Diouf, who was part of the Senegal team that defeated France at the 2002 tournament, is an assistant coach with the squad preparing to meet England in Sunday’s last-16 tie in Qatar. He was complimentary about Gareth Southgate’s side but feels they are guilty of complacency.

“I never say Senegal can’t win,” the former Liverpool forward said. “It reminds me of when we play against France: they win the game before they play it and I think England today do the same thing, which is good for us.

“We don’t have anything to show the world. If you see our squad, we have Édouard Mendy, we have Kalidou Koulibaly [both Chelsea], we have a lot of good players in England. Some play in the Championship but they are really Premier League players, like Ismaïla Sarr [Watford]. It’s for them to show how good they are in this game.

“It is a wonderful draw – who would not want to play this game? The players are excited. Talking to the boys it’s about big games, big players, they have to show how good they are. And definitely, this game is going to be very exciting because England have a good team, good players. I know we are not the favourites but we are going to do everything to beat them and the players can do it.”

Kalidou Koulibaly

Diouf stated the pressure was all on Southgate’s men. “Definitely yes. England have to [win] but we have to show them that the game is not finished before we play. These boys are ready. They work hard in training, we have a good spirit and just need to keep going.”

Diouf, whose former clubs also include Bolton, Leeds, Sunderland and Blackburn, believes England have changed their approach. “They all copy – the national team as well – Pep Guardiola and Man City. They play the same way: they want the ball and score a lot of goals and play tiki-taka.

“[The] players can do it as well, they have a good team and a very good team spirit. It’s not like the Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard time – the two of them don’t like each other – it’s about team spirit and Gareth Southgate did a great job.”

Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations on penalties in February and Diouf is confident they can beat England the same way if required. “We are always going to win on penalties,” he said. “If we get to penalties we’re going to win it. Easy. I know the goalkeeper we’ve got [Mendy] and I know we can stop some of their penalties.”

Category: Senegal football team

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The main event

Talking points

Beyond the football

Global media-watch

The internet reacts

Today’s matches

Qatar: beyond the football

Player to watch

And finally

Senegal’s beach ballers aim to cause earthquake by shaking up England | World Cup 2022

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Iliman Ndiaye’s rise from Sunday league to Senegal World Cup ace | World Cup 2022

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‘Senegal is the best’: Dakar’s dreaming of World Cup upset | Senegal

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