What Senegal's win over England means a year before the World Cup: ‘We have arrived'
Thomas Tuchel's stern glare in his post-match press conference betrayed his frustration.
His England side had been deservedly beaten by Senegal in Nottingham on Tuesday. Not only that — their celebrations had reached his ears.
'You feel what it means to them to beat us,' he told the media, snarkily. 'I heard it because my changing room was next to the dressing room of Senegal.
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'Would we have celebrated in the same manner? Would I have been screaming? Would the players… have thought, 'It's just a friendly match and the gaffer needs to calm down?''
Just a friendly? Try telling that to the Senegal players and fans, whose euphoric celebrations brought joy to their section of the City Ground.
This was England's first-ever defeat against an African side in 21 encounters and extended Senegal's unbeaten run to 22 matches. It was also only the second time in their history that England have lost by two or more goals after scoring first.
Senegal, 19th in FIFA's world rankings, see the 3-1 win as far more than a meaningless friendly at the end of a long, gruelling season. They see it as just the start.
Senegal have World Cup qualifiers in September and October before the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) kicks off in late December. If they manage to qualify for the World Cup, they would take part in the tournament next summer in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Simon Ndiaye, 34, travelled from France to attend the game with friends and was enthusiastic about what the performance promised for the future.
'The match was perfect,' he tells The Athletic. 'The victory was very deserved, well merited. It is positive for the future and the AFCON competition, it will be a very good opportunity.
'(The result) gives a positive atmosphere for the team and it allows the Senegal team to prepare for the World Cup qualification fixtures with belief for this moment.'
Mohamed Salad, a journalist specialising in African football, also thinks the win will give the players confidence ahead of what could be a big year.
He says: 'I wasn't as surprised as a lot of people were. Senegal haven't lost a competitive game in 90 minutes since England at the 2022 World Cup, and have only conceded twice in the last 13 months of competitive football.
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'They should be higher in the world rankings. That's how much I respect them. African football as a whole has improved significantly over the past two years. Look at some of the players who played yesterday: (Everton's) Iliman Ndiaye, (Crystal Palace's) Ismaila Sarr. They play at a high level in the Premier League, so they're not going to look at Declan Rice and think, 'Oh my God, this is such an overwhelming experience', which was the case a lot before.
Was this a one-off result, or the result of a few years of development? Salad continues: 'Every international break, they find two or three new young Senegalese players breaking through. El Hadji Malick Diouf, Habib Diarra. They do have a very, very good system developed for bringing young players through and integrating them. In 2023, they won the Under-17 AFCON, they've been a consistent feature in the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups.
'Beating England is a massive, massive statement. And it shows what a lot of us think already: Senegal can step onto the pitch and compete with anyone and impose their game.'
This was a committed, consistent and complete performance from Senegal. They had 11 shots to the hosts' eight and nine shots on target to four. This was no smash-and-grab result — it was one inspired by the tactical outlook of manager Pape Thiaw.
The direct Sarr swapped wings with Ndiaye early to attack England's weaker right side, dovetailing nicely with overlapping full-back Diouf. With Kyle Walker too narrow and Bukayo Saka too high, Senegal manufactured constant two-on-ones.
Dynamic No 8s Lamine Camara and Diarra, both 21, pushed up onto Declan Rice and Conor Gallagher's double pivot to stifle England's progressive passing lanes.
Thiaw was happy to trust their players in isolated one-on-one battles all over the pitch: trust they repaid.
The manager wasn't getting carried away, however. His calm press conference suggests he knows Senegal's potential ceiling is even higher than they showed in Nottingham.
He said: 'I would like to congratulate my players who have won this match for their tremendous performance and mindset.
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'We felt we were on top but then they scored a goal. We came back, showed a great mentality, in the second half we were able to impose our game a bit more.
'Well done to the players, well done to the federation for enabling us to play this kind of match. There are always things we can do better.'
Senegal have won the Africa Cup of Nations once — in 2021. In 2002, they played in their first ever World Cup and managed to reach the quarter-finals. At the last World Cup, in Qatar, they were knocked out in the round of 16 by England.
But at that tournament in 2022, another nation from Africa — Morocco — managed to become the first team from the continent to reach the semi-final stage.
Salad believes that yesterday's win can be the springboard for greater achievements: 'Two years ago, they played Brazil in a friendly, beat them 4-2, and it was just as convincing as it was yesterday. These games say to Senegalese fans: 'We have arrived, and we can go on a run like Morocco did at the last World Cup'.'
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