Africa Football Discussion Thread || Current discussion: African teams at Qatar.

[Masplanc]

Senegal will miss Sadio Mane on their World Cup journey, but don't count them out

Senegal really is not the same without Sadio Mane. I was expecting since he has been ruled out of the world cup due to his injury that another Senegalese will take it as an opportunity to show that they are capable to step up to the challenge of pushing attack. The Senegalese players kept going back anytime they got close to the dutch goal and couldn't take their chances, just too bad and poor football from our African champions. Mendy has just been bad and terrible since he became unreliable...no improvement from him and no confidence like before, he cost Senegal this game and should be disappointed in himself. I hope Cameroon don't play this kind of football.

If sadio Mane was to be in that game it wouldn't have been easy for Netherlands to win the match, maybe it would have been a game of draw. Mane is the only player in Senegal that one can be sure of scoring goals. Senegal performance was so poor, I'm not surprised about their performance.

[püsür]

Senegal will miss Sadio Mane on their World Cup journey, but don't count them out

Senegal really is not the same without Sadio Mane. I was expecting since he has been ruled out of the world cup due to his injury that another Senegalese will take it as an opportunity to show that they are capable to step up to the challenge of pushing attack. The Senegalese players kept going back anytime they got close to the dutch goal and couldn't take their chances, just too bad and poor football from our African champions. Mendy has just been bad and terrible since he became unreliable...no improvement from him and no confidence like before, he cost Senegal this game and should be disappointed in himself. I hope Cameroon don't play this kind of football.

If sadio Mane was to be in that game it wouldn't have been easy for Netherlands to win the match, maybe it would have been a game of draw. Mane is the only player in Senegal that one can be sure of scoring goals. Senegal performance was so poor, I'm not surprised about their performance.

Holland did nothing and scored 2 goals and got 3 points. If you ask whether Senegal played very well, then no. Senegal had already made it to the finals in the African Cup of Nations as far as I can remember, and at the end of a bad game, they beat Egypt on penalties and became the champion. Where is that old Senegal and even where are the African teams like the old Nigeria and Guinea...

Senegal showed that if they changed the game pattern, they could have a better chance of second place than Ecuador. Although Ecuador, as a game system, can push the Netherlands even harder, as a result, they are a team that plays more collectively than Senegal. But that light is not visible in the coach Aliou Cisse, I don't expect they will do better.

[Tumanggor]

Senegal will miss Sadio Mane on their World Cup journey, but don't count them out

Senegal really is not the same without Sadio Mane. I was expecting since he has been ruled out of the world cup due to his injury that another Senegalese will take it as an opportunity to show that they are capable to step up to the challenge of pushing attack. The Senegalese players kept going back anytime they got close to the dutch goal and couldn't take their chances, just too bad and poor football from our African champions. Mendy has just been bad and terrible since he became unreliable...no improvement from him and no confidence like before, he cost Senegal this game and should be disappointed in himself. I hope Cameroon don't play this kind of football.

Netherlands goals were scored in 84 and 99 minutes, which means that for almost 2 rounds, the Netherlands had difficulty facing Senegal

To be honest, I saw a lot of opportunities that Senegal didn't solve effectively, Sadio Mane would have been sad to see his country lose 2-0 to the Netherlands today, if he had played there would have been opportunities for Senegal to win

[Ratash]

A disapointing loss today for senegal team especially after the great performance they showed, until the 84th minutes they had the situation under control, and then they conceided the first goal which was avoidable if their players were focused still they have a good chance at qualifying they have what it takes to beat Qatar and Ecuador.

[Gosgosking]

Ghana will be playing against  Portugal on Thursday.  Ronaldo will be among the Portugal squad.  Portugal is a strong team and it will be a tough for Ghana to scale through in the game. It will be a massive victory for Portugal.

[Ebede]

Senegal will miss Sadio Mane on their World Cup journey, but don't count them out

Senegal really is not the same without Sadio Mane. I was expecting since he has been ruled out of the world cup due to his injury that another Senegalese will take it as an opportunity to show that they are capable to step up to the challenge of pushing attack. The Senegalese players kept going back anytime they got close to the dutch goal and couldn't take their chances, just too bad and poor football from our African champions. Mendy has just been bad and terrible since he became unreliable...no improvement from him and no confidence like before, he cost Senegal this game and should be disappointed in himself. I hope Cameroon don't play this kind of football.

Netherlands goals were scored in 84 and 99 minutes, which means that for almost 2 rounds, the Netherlands had difficulty facing Senegal

To be honest, I saw a lot of opportunities that Senegal didn't solve effectively, Sadio Mane would have been sad to see his country lose 2-0 to the Netherlands today, if he had played there would have been opportunities for Senegal to win

The match was so wrong because everyone believe that Senegal who win the match so do you told the luck of senegal's performance and opportunities they miss in the first half that laid end-to-end in the match to this point so assuming Senegal with lies all those opportunities they would have won the match

[LUCKMCFLY]

Senegal will miss Sadio Mane on their World Cup journey, but don't count them out

Senegal really is not the same without Sadio Mane. I was expecting since he has been ruled out of the world cup due to his injury that another Senegalese will take it as an opportunity to show that they are capable to step up to the challenge of pushing attack. The Senegalese players kept going back anytime they got close to the dutch goal and couldn't take their chances, just too bad and poor football from our African champions. Mendy has just been bad and terrible since he became unreliable...no improvement from him and no confidence like before, he cost Senegal this game and should be disappointed in himself. I hope Cameroon don't play this kind of football.

Netherlands goals were scored in 84 and 99 minutes, which means that for almost 2 rounds, the Netherlands had difficulty facing Senegal

To be honest, I saw a lot of opportunities that Senegal didn't solve effectively, Sadio Mane would have been sad to see his country lose 2-0 to the Netherlands today, if he had played there would have been opportunities for Senegal to win

The match was so wrong because everyone believe that Senegal who win the match so do you told the luck of senegal's performance and opportunities they miss in the first half that laid end-to-end in the match to this point so assuming Senegal with lies all those opportunities they would have won the match

Well, according to how I saw the game, Senegal did everything possible to win, I honestly think that luck was not on their side, but it really seems to me that things are not over with Senegal, they still have a very good opportunity, they already de Mane is something that they have to leave behind, now they have and are in the World Cup, they have a position that has been hard fought and they have a great privilege, I know that Senegal can recover and they will recover, but they do not have that afflict, good energies for Senegal.

All the African teams are loved by many people in the world, the truth is that I liked the football that I saw, they fought and ran a lot, they fight for the ball as if it were the last thing and that is very worthy, because that is what Africans do The Brazilians, the Argentines, the Croats, they fight for every ball, only this time they had no luck.

[Desmong]

Senegal will miss Sadio Mane on their World Cup journey, but don't count them out

Senegal really is not the same without Sadio Mane. I was expecting since he has been ruled out of the world cup due to his injury that another Senegalese will take it as an opportunity to show that they are capable to step up to the challenge of pushing attack. The Senegalese players kept going back anytime they got close to the dutch goal and couldn't take their chances, just too bad and poor football from our African champions. Mendy has just been bad and terrible since he became unreliable...no improvement from him and no confidence like before, he cost Senegal this game and should be disappointed in himself. I hope Cameroon don't play this kind of football.

Netherlands goals were scored in 84 and 99 minutes, which means that for almost 2 rounds, the Netherlands had difficulty facing Senegal

To be honest, I saw a lot of opportunities that Senegal didn't solve effectively, Sadio Mane would have been sad to see his country lose 2-0 to the Netherlands today, if he had played there would have been opportunities for Senegal to win

The match was so wrong because everyone believe that Senegal who win the match so do you told the luck of senegal's performance and opportunities they miss in the first half that laid end-to-end in the match to this point so assuming Senegal with lies all those opportunities they would have won the match

We should never forget that gambling can be based on luck and anything that comes in. Sometimes we may think that a country or club is going to win and they end up playing anyhow without making any winnings.
We should learn how to accept any result we see as a winning whemther team like this plays. I know this kind of thing will ever happen

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Senegal will miss Sadio Mane on their World Cup journey, but don't count them out

Senegal really is not the same without Sadio Mane. I was expecting since he has been ruled out of the world cup due to his injury that another Senegalese will take it as an opportunity to show that they are capable to step up to the challenge of pushing attack. The Senegalese players kept going back anytime they got close to the dutch goal and couldn't take their chances, just too bad and poor football from our African champions. Mendy has just been bad and terrible since he became unreliable...no improvement from him and no confidence like before, he cost Senegal this game and should be disappointed in himself. I hope Cameroon don't play this kind of football.

I think we have to count them out because without Sadio Mane there's no Senegalese team. Just as we saw with Liverpool this season, the moment Sadio Mane left the club, we could see the weakness in the team get exposed and other teams are punishing them. Sadio Mane don't just have an impact in the attacking force of any team he plays in but also coordinate the defense starting from the front line and that's something the Senegal side will miss. But I just hope that won't be the case with Senegal and the Senegalese squad can find a way to surprise us this tournament. They're our best hope and without Sadio Mane playing the tournament it seems like that hope has been shattered.

Sadio Mane is the best player in Africa and second best player in the world currently just behind Benzema and both players are a doubt at the world cup, we haven't even reach anywhere and this is looking like my worst world cup already. Our best player in the continent won't be representing us and that's just sad which gets me wondering why clubs overplay important player's when we have tournament likes this coming up in just few days time.

[Docnaster]

A disapointing loss today for senegal team especially after the great performance they showed, until the 84th minutes they had the situation under control, and then they conceided the first goal which was avoidable if their players were focused still they have a good chance at qualifying they have what it takes to beat Qatar and Ecuador.

Senegal played a good football but their big challenge was who will put the ball in the net. And that is what Mane used to do for the team. I highly doubt that Senegal will qualify from this group because of their inability to score. The Ecuador team has a scorer called Valencia. Every team needs that scorer, it was only Sarrh that was making good attempts to score. He needs to put more efforts to be able to beat Ecuador and Qatar.

[buwaytress]

I think we have to count them out because without Sadio Mane there's no Senegalese team. Just as we saw with Liverpool this season, the moment Sadio Mane left the club, we could see the weakness in the team get exposed and other teams are punishing them.

Sigh, Senegal could have nicked a goal if they took advantage of indecisive Dutch players last night, but I think you're right, it's less clear to me anyway that the team is still strong missing their star player. Two other games still winnable, for sure, but they need to get right into the face of opponents, I did think Sarr was bright, maybe need to switch him to the middle a bit?

Liverpool still do okay (Jota and Diaz are worthy Mane replacements IMO) but maybe the Terangas have to get even braver up front now.

[Pierre 2]

I feel like Senegal missed a great chance to beat Netherlands. I think they probably felt missing of Mane. But their overall team looks solid enough to go next round. I believe they mainly have issues with goalkeeper and defensive strategy. Although they may compete well enough with Ecuador. Qatar is definitely no match for them. Waiting for other African teams to play to assess them myself.

[snipie]

I feel like Senegal missed a great chance to beat Netherlands. I think they probably felt missing of Mane. But their overall team looks solid enough to go next round. I believe they mainly have issues with goalkeeper and defensive strategy. Although they may compete well enough with Ecuador. Qatar is definitely no match for them. Waiting for other African teams to play to assess them myself.

What do you think about Tunisia? I am surprised about their performance today. Hopefully they can win. BTW there is a doubt about penalty for Tunisia but it was cancelled by VAR although it is an obvious hand.
For Senegal there is still chance for them to qualify, they need to win the remaining 2 games.

[Hyphen(-)]

Ghana will be playing against  Portugal on Thursday.  Ronaldo will be among the Portugal squad.  Portugal is a strong team and it will be a tough for Ghana to scale through in the game. It will be a massive victory for Portugal.

Ghana has a reputation in world Cup history as one of the African countries to have advanced to the round of 16; in general, they are also good and have good players in their squad; however, even though Portugal has Ronaldo and other world class players in their squad, beating Ghana is not a simple task for them.
Many things have already begun to happen in the World Cup, as we can see with Argentina's unexpected defeat by Saudi Arabia, so let's stop underestimating any team in this World Cup.

[Slow death]

Ghana will be playing against  Portugal on Thursday.  Ronaldo will be among the Portugal squad.  Portugal is a strong team and it will be a tough for Ghana to scale through in the game. It will be a massive victory for Portugal.

Ghana has a reputation in world Cup history as one of the African countries to have advanced to the round of 16; in general, they are also good and have good players in their squad; however, even though Portugal has Ronaldo and other world class players in their squad, beating Ghana is not a simple task for them.
Many things have already begun to happen in the World Cup, as we can see with Argentina's unexpected defeat by Saudi Arabia, so let's stop underestimating any team in this World Cup.

speaking of underestimating, today there was another unexpected result for me

denmark 0 - 0 tunisia

with this result, tunisia has 1 point in the group and is the first african team to have a good result in this world cup, if in the next game they manage to beat australia then tunisia would get 4 points which could make them move to another phase if they had a draw against France, but the fact is that tunisia has a good chance of passing to another phase, they are in a group in which only franca is the fearsome opponent, the rest of the teams tunisia can win or draw

I feel like Senegal missed a great chance to beat Netherlands. I think they probably felt missing of Mane. But their overall team looks solid enough to go next round. I believe they mainly have issues with goalkeeper and defensive strategy. Although they may compete well enough with Ecuador. Qatar is definitely no match for them. Waiting for other African teams to play to assess them myself.

What do you think about Tunisia? I am surprised about their performance today. Hopefully they can win. BTW there is a doubt about penalty for Tunisia but it was cancelled by VAR although it is an obvious hand.
For Senegal there is still chance for them to qualify, they need to win the remaining 2 games.

senegal's situation is not good, they can even beat qatar, at least against qatar i think they won't have difficulties to win, but when they play against ecuador it will be a very difficult game for them, so probably they would draw or lose, because senegal's problem is in the attack which is difficult without the mane, and as if they were a car without headlights to focus on, in my opinion senegal will not pass to another phase, that's because the equator can even manage to draw against holland, the equator and a strong team, I even underestimated them, but I was wrong

[Marykeller]

Senegal chances dropped after Sadio Mane injury and withdrawal from the list of players unfortunately. They were able to advance to the next stage but that doesn't mean they lost that possibility obviously but their chance was reduced.

Mane doesn't make the team, he depends on his teammates to find the back of the net. Contrary to what other people may say, I don't think his absence is going to be such a big issue as long as they play as aggressively as a team, their odds will be higher. And they may be the second African team to reach the knockout stages after Ghana. Well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

In every strong team their is this one particular person every player looks up top. That particular good particular give confidence of victory to other players. Mane absence can affect the mindset,  confidence of other players that look ups to him in the team

Indeed that what I was talking about. Look at Senegal now vs Netherlands, they are doing pretty much good but you feel that they are lacking a finish touch. Their attack line is doing its best but can do better and be more threatening. Even if we consider that Mane won't score, his presence will put more pressure on the defence line of the opponent and make his teammates play more comfortably.
Anyway I hope Senegal to get at least a point in this match.

Edit: Netherlands scored...

Senegal's performance yesterday was quite commendable even in their defeat. They played defensively well. The only thing I find lacking is their finishing. This is where Mane comes in. Senegal does need a good striker that will finish everything for them. They squander so many opportunities that may have resulted in goals.

On Friday, Senegal will play their following game against Qatar. hoping for a successful outcome

[Davidvictorson]

Senegal's performance yesterday was quite commendable even in their defeat. They played defensively well. The only thing I find lacking is their finishing. This is where Mane comes in. Senegal does need a good striker that will finish everything for them. They squander so many opportunities that may have resulted in goals.

On Friday, Senegal will play their following game against Qatar. hoping for a successful outcome

So far, the African teams in that have played -- Senegal, Tunisia have made me extremely proud and I must confess that I am totally impressed with their performance. There's so much expectation now of the Ghanaian team. I am hoping to see a repeat of the type of game between Argentina and Saudi Arabia with Portugal and Ghana. Well, this is a tech assisted world cup and anything can happen. For the game between Senegal and Qatar, my expectation is to see Senegal win.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Seems Senegal are desperate to bring Sadio mane to the world cup, just like in the last AFCON tournament that he was used despite him having a concussion on the pitch. Mane was just added to the list of players called up for the world cup and it got me worried, Isn't Senegal overworking Mane. I understand he's their players and he's needed if Senegal was to even dream about going far in the tournament but shoudn't the wellbeing of Sadio Mane be considered here.

And what would that also do the the confidence of the others, or the guy sacrificed to make room for Mane? This has to get some resistance from Bayern, for sure. Klopp would be calling up Senegal now if this happened at Liverpool...

It was Mane's decision to go, he's 30 and this could be his final World Cup with Senegal, I'm not sure the injury is as serious as we thought given that there is still a week until the World Cup for him to at least recover since he was flown to Africa for herbal treatments, we know how far Senegal is willing to go to ensure the country captain goes to the World Cup. Because of the timing of the World Cup, he may miss the first game. I recall a similar scenario with Drogba, who was sidelined for four weeks due to a hamstring injury. He went to Africa for herbal treatment and recovered just in time for our Champions League game. No players were sacrificed, his slot was untouchable.

Well your points of view are very good, I also see the point of view of the coach from Senegal and I see the point of view of Mane, I also understand why he went to Africa to receive his herbs to heal quickly, and I hope that can recover and be ready for the first game, however we see many points of view and above all the most important is health, which, it is not very clear how serious his injury is, what I do understand is that it is or could be his last World Cup and he doesn't want to go wrong with his people, I think that's what moves him the most, that's why I think he's doing all this, I really admire soccer players like him.

If there is something to admire about patriotism, it could show Mane, I think that if I were him I would do the same and go, I think it is excellent that they have called him, he gives a lot of moral value to his team in case he cannot enter some.

Senegal's performance yesterday was quite commendable even in their defeat. They played defensively well. The only thing I find lacking is their finishing. This is where Mane comes in. Senegal does need a good striker that will finish everything for them. They squander so many opportunities that may have resulted in goals.

On Friday, Senegal will play their following game against Qatar. hoping for a successful outcome

So far, the African teams in that have played -- Senegal, Tunisia have made me extremely proud and I must confess that I am totally impressed with their performance. There's so much expectation now of the Ghanaian team. I am hoping to see a repeat of the type of game between Argentina and Saudi Arabia with Portugal and Ghana. Well, this is a tech assisted world cup and anything can happen. For the game between Senegal and Qatar, my expectation is to see Senegal win.

Actually yes, I also hope that the African teams can show more, Tunisia did very well, I really liked the game, even though I hardly like it when a team draws, but this time I liked it, now the debut of Ghana against Portugal, anything can happen because there is the blow that Saudi Arabia gave, nobody thought (except the Arabs in general) that they were going to beat Argentina, it is something really surprising and beautiful, it is not known what could happen with Ghana now and Portugal, but the expectations are very high and much is expected of them, I hope to see a great presentation of these teams that for me are all great, I hope that Senegal recovers and can give a better result for the next match.

[Oluwa-btc]

Senegal's performance yesterday was quite commendable even in their defeat. They played defensively well. The only thing I find lacking is their finishing. This is where Mane comes in. Senegal does need a good striker that will finish everything for them. They squander so many opportunities that may have resulted in goals.

On Friday, Senegal will play their following game against Qatar. hoping for a successful outcome

So far, the African teams in that have played -- Senegal, Tunisia have made me extremely proud and I must confess that I am totally impressed with their performance. There's so much expectation now of the Ghanaian team. I am hoping to see a repeat of the type of game between Argentina and Saudi Arabia with Portugal and Ghana. Well, this is a tech assisted world cup and anything can happen. For the game between Senegal and Qatar, my expectation is to see Senegal win.

I watched Senegal though but didn't complete the game to the moment when Gakpo scored for the Dutch National Team, but then every single player played team football, fighting for themselves and closing down the technical Dutch side. But couldn't hold for so long.
As per the Qataris, do not in anyway underestimate them, I still don't think they Senegal has a bett chance over them not until the 90 minute is complete. Qatar had a better second half than the first, the pressure was on them as they successfully succumbed to all Ecuador did to em.

Tunisia today was very very compact, they sat back wetin for them to enter their defense so we know how to tackle them all round.
Portugal vrs Ghana ? This is a joke, There's no bloody way on earth Portugal will loss to Ghana.
If I'm right, you're a Lionel Messi fan and got sad Messi lost today, don't take it too serious.

[Wakate]

Ghana will be playing against  Portugal on Thursday.  Ronaldo will be among the Portugal squad.  Portugal is a strong team and it will be a tough for Ghana to scale through in the game. It will be a massive victory for Portugal.

Ghana has a reputation in world Cup history as one of the African countries to have advanced to the round of 16; in general, they are also good and have good players in their squad; however, even though Portugal has Ronaldo and other world class players in their squad, beating Ghana is not a simple task for them.
Many things have already begun to happen in the World Cup, as we can see with Argentina's unexpected defeat by Saudi Arabia, so let's stop underestimating any team in this World Cup.

Ghana has a very good team that had been making it to the world cup and it is very impressive. But we all know that there are some certain levels Ghana football team cam reach in world cup. There are other team too that are very good when we talk about football which is not mostly predictable. The world cup is here for us and I am hoping to see different football reactions just like the way Saudi Arabia won the match with Argentina with Messi very present in the match. So many things to be unveiled in this year world cup because even the winner can not be predictable for now because of the nature of things.