CAN 2021: Senegal finally favorite?

After a slow start, Senegal is finally playing like a tenor and getting into the costume of favorite cut for the African Cup of Nations (CAN), before its semi-final against Burkina Faso, Wednesday in Yaoundé.

Favorites? "Don't be fooled, huh!" launches defender Abdou Diallo in the locker room after Sunday's victory against Equatorial Guinea (3-1) in the quarter-finals. "There is no favorite here, we haven't done anything yet, we're in the semi-finals, we're happy today, we're enjoying today, tomorrow we're off again, we have one day less recuperation than them" , warns the central defender of Paris SG in a sequence widely broadcast on social networks .

At the start of his locker room speech, Abdou Diallo recalls the context, the favorite label visible as on an Italian brand t-shirt with which the "Teranga Lions" traveled , then the disillusionment after a 1-0 and two 0-0 in hens. "Nobody takes us for a favorite because supposedly we play badly, but today everyone will say: We won, we are favorites" , adds the defender.

Finalist of the last edition, globalist in 2018, armed as ever with a star per line: Sadio Mané , Idrissa Gueye , Kalidou Koulibaly and Édouard Mendy , Senegal landed in Cameroon in the clothes of an ambitious suitor. But a single-goal first round, a last-second penalty – by Sadio Mané – against Zimbabwe , the label was crumpled.

"The big teams will always be criticized, it's normal, the expectation is enormous", explains the former Senegalese star El-Hadji Diouf . "But I repeat: the CAN is not a race of speed but a race of distance." The Lions raised the level in the 8th round against Cape Verde ( 2-0), certainly finishing 11 against nine, then offered one of the best matches of the tournament against the attractive Equatorial Guinea.

Senegal "is a team that is growing in strength, we have enormous potential if we play our game" , insists El-Hadji Diouf, unfortunate finalist in 2002 against Cameroon (0-0, 3 pens to 2), a possible final in 2022, the "Indomitable Lions" facing Egypt in the other half, Thursday.

"We know we can do better ," admits captain Kalidou Koulibaly. "We know that we are gaining momentum. We know that we can hold the ball even better but we must not be choosy, we have qualified for the semi-finals."

The Neapolitan admits "that after the first and second game or even the group matches, no one saw us there" , but his team was scheduled for the seventh game, the final, not just the first three. "There is no longer a favorite today, when we reach the semi-finals, we just have to win," he recalls.

Coach Aliou Cissé also wants to cool any excess of confidence. "We do not ignite, we know that everything has not been perfect" against the "Nzalang" (Lightning) Guinean. "We made a very difficult start to the preparation, people said that we were looking for excuses, but when ten players are not there (injuries and Covid-19, editor's note), it is normal for the beginnings to be sluggish" , recalls Aliou Cissé.

"We kept the faith, we always believed in ourselves and worked despite the criticism, today everyone agrees that Senegal is gaining momentum, but the balance is fragile" , underlines the coach. At least his Lions have been tanned since March 2015 when he's been in place.

"For six years, we have traveled all over the continent, played all kinds of football, some of us are playing their fourth AFCON, I have also played it on the pitch: that's the experience ". And to continue: “In difficult times, we remained calm, we moved forward together.

Sadio Mané to engage : "We are Senegal. We are capable of beating any team, we will try again, to reach the final" .