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DIAMNIADIO, Senegal — Ask those that have watched Aliou Cissé take Senegal to 2 World Cups in a row and direct his workforce to a victory within the Africa Cup of Nations in February, and they’ll inform you that his nation’s wealth of soccer expertise is just one a part of the rationale.
There’s something extra tedious, extra long-term, however way more transformative that Cissé, the 46-year-old former Paris St.-Germain midfielder and former Senegal captain, has delivered to his squad since he turned its coach in 2015.
“He has turned Senegal into an actual skilled workforce, which it wasn’t earlier than,” mentioned Saer Seck, an administrator who led Senegal’s delegation to the final World Cup, in Russia in 2018.
Most African groups don’t have the sources of their European or Latin American counterparts. However lately, Cissé has introduced some construction and consistency to the nationwide workforce, Seck mentioned. He has made certain, for example, that each one gamers arrive in Senegal on the identical day at any time when they’re scheduled to play a world sport — a small element that wasn’t at all times the case earlier than he took cost.
“When my guys depart Europe to play with us, they want a while to adapt and shift their mind-set,” Cissé advised The New York Occasions in an interview earlier this yr. “It’s a bit of festive,” he mentioned of life for these returning dwelling. “So we’ve bought to inform them, ‘Hey, sure, life is nice in Senegal, sea and solar, and so forth., however you’re not on trip. It’s the identical depth right here.’”
And that, he mentioned, “is the place this workforce has made a variety of progress.”
The workforce now travels in personal jets and with law enforcement officials, a novelty. Its gamers sleep in higher beds, keep in higher resorts, and head to coaching and matches in buses and planes that depart on time. None of these issues — all frequent on the European golf equipment the place many of the gamers spend the majority of their time — have been a given within the nationwide workforce’s current previous, or for a lot of Africa.
Whether or not that will likely be sufficient for Senegal, the African champion, to interrupt via on the World Cup is one other query. Solely three African groups have ever reached the quarterfinals on the World Cup, and just one (Ghana in 2010) has superior that far since a Cissé-led Senegal achieved the feat in 2002. Senegal will face the Netherlands on Monday in its opening sport.
After Senegal earned its qualification in March, Cissé sat down with The New York Occasions to debate his workforce’s probabilities, the restricted variety of World Cup locations for African groups and the place African soccer is headed.
This dialog has been edited and condensed, and befell earlier than Senegal’s greatest participant, Sadio Mané, was injured on the eve of the World Cup.
What are your ambitions for this World Cup?
A couple of editions in the past, we went to the World Cup to find the competitors. Then, we have been there to study. Now, we’re right here to compete. African groups are going to Qatar to win. After I have a look at my midfielders, my defenders, my goalkeeper, I’ve nothing to envy to, say, France or Spain. Kalidou Koulibaly is as priceless as Marquinhos for Brazil or John Stones for England. Hugo Lloris isn’t higher than Édouard Mendy. That’s the type of confidence I would like my gamers to have. I would like them to inform themselves that if France can win, why not us?
African groups have struggled in current World Cups. Why is that?
The extra you’re there, the extra probabilities it’s important to go all the way in which to victory. In Africa, we’re 54 international locations, and we will solely have 5 groups qualify. Whereas Europe has 13.
What issues within the World Cup is expertise. To win it, you could take part repeatedly. However how do you wish to have expertise in the event you go to the World Cup each 20 years? It bothers me to listen to that African groups haven’t had their breakthrough once we have a look at the African qualifiers.
It’s worse than martial arts. It’s like throwing a bone in the course of a bunch of canines: What do you assume the canines that get out of the combat will appear like? These are the difficulties on the African continent: the quantity and the standard of opponents that you must get previous to make it to the World Cup.
I may provide the names of 10 groups that might all have the ability to characterize Africa, and that high 5 is best than the underside 5 of European groups. Assume Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, South Africa. …
The extra of us that go, the extra we are going to exist.
Ought to FIFA cut back the variety of locations that go to European groups?
I don’t know, however we will’t preserve going with a continent like Africa that represents a lot for world soccer and solely has 5 spots.
We exist. We’ve got nice gamers. We’ve got contributed to the event of soccer. We should always have the ability to play our half. Give us the chance to exist, and we’ll have extra probabilities to go to the semis, the ultimate, and to win.
You’ve been the coach for seven years, an exception in Africa that many say is important to take a nationwide workforce to new heights as you’ve accomplished. Why you?
From 2002 to 2015, not one coach stayed for greater than two years in Senegal. How do you wish to accomplish something? It’s inconceivable, and our leaders needed to perceive it. They did with me.
After I took over the workforce in 2015, individuals have been asking: “Why are you giving him the workforce? He has no expertise.” However I knew the expectations and the truth of this nationwide workforce.
I used to be captain of this workforce. Then I bought my teaching diplomas. Then that you must construct a workforce, a bunch, with motivated, patriotic gamers, who don’t pretend it in relation to bringing pleasure to their nation. With years, you turn into extra assured in what you do, and also you discover ways to handle the extra unsure moments.
I anticipate my gamers to take the nation ahead as a result of the expectations are excessive. We’ve got nice gamers who can beat the most effective groups. However we even have a bunch. Everybody fights to get the ball again. Whether or not Sadio Mané is on the assault or defends, he spends all of it on the pitch. That’s as a result of we wish to accomplish one thing large.
What has modified between the Senegalese nationwide workforce you captained on the 2002 World Cup and the one you’re now teaching?
The mind-set. In Senegal, we used to have fan golf equipment cheering for one participant or one other: one for El Hadji Diouf, one for Aliou Cissé. At the moment, individuals come to observe a workforce. Our gamers put on the nationwide jersey. They’re proud to be Senegalese, proud to be African.
With regards to our combating spirit, dedication and love for his or her nation, this workforce is an instance. I’m proud to say that individuals acknowledge themselves on this workforce.
What’s tough, and what individuals typically neglect, is that not like in a membership, we don’t have a lot time. Folks assume that nationwide groups can play like Actual Madrid, Barça or P.S.G., however we merely don’t have the time to coach towards that degree. Each sport is decisive. It is advisable win to maintain hoping, whereas in a membership you’ll be able to lose one sport and get again on monitor the next week.
With the nationwide workforce, I anticipate extra dedication from our gamers due to that. As a participant it’s possible you’ll put on 4, 5, six jerseys in your profession, however you’ll at all times have one nationwide workforce.
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