Infos:
The Senegal national football team (French: Équipe de football du Senegal) represents Senegal in men´s international football. Controlled by the Senegalese Football Federation, it is a member of both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF). Nicknamed "the Lions of Teranga", the team became the second African team to reach the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup after Cameroon in 1990, doing so in 2002 before losing to Turkey in extra time.
Established in the early 1960s, the team have been regular competitors in the Africa Cup of Nations, where their best performances were runner-up to Cameroon in the 2002 edition in Mali, and to Algeria in the 2019 edition in Egypt. 2002 also saw Senegal compete at the FIFA World Cup for the first time and reach the quarter-finals, having defeated reigning champions France in the opening game. The team made their second World Cup appearance sixteen years later, where they were eliminated in the group stage against Japan based on fair play points.
2010s
Senegal was eliminated from the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations with zero wins and zero points.
After Senegal´s former manager Bruno Metsu died on 14 October 2013, many Senegalese players were recalled to appear and have a moment of silence in memory of the manager who helped them reach the quarter-final in the 2002 World Cup. All activities of the national league and the national team were suspended for a few days in his memory.
The West African nation narrowly missed the 2014 FIFA World Cup after losing in a round-robin match against Ivory Coast in the final qualification round. Senegal qualified for two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments since, being eliminated in the group stage in 2015 and reaching the quarterfinals in 2017. On 10 November 2017, after defeating South Africa 2–0,[6] Senegal qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup,[7] the second in its history after the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.[8] Senegal defeated Poland 2–1 in their opening group match,[9] thanks to an own goal by Thiago Cionek and a M´Baye Niang strike.[10] In the next group stage match, Senegal drew 2–2 against Japan, with goals from Sadio Mané and Moussa Wagué.[11] However, despite having a great advantage, a 1–0 loss to Colombia in their final match[12] meant they finished level on points with Japan, who progressed thanks to a superior fair play record despite also losing their final match.[13] Thus, Senegal was eliminated in the group stage for the first time in its World Cup history.[14]
Senegal achieved a very successful campaign in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations under the same management of Aliou Cissé, who participated in the 2002 final before. Under Cissé, Senegal reached their first final in seventeen years, beating almost every opponent in the process.[15] However, having already lost 1–0 to Algeria earlier in the tournament, Senegal lost 1–0 to them again in the final, thus missing out on the title for a second time.
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