Aliou Cisse Becomes First African to Reach The 16 as Player and Coach

The Senegalese National Team achieved a valuable victory at the expense of Ecuador, with two goals to one, during the match that brought the two sides together, on Tuesday evening, November 29, in the third and final round of the group stage in the Qatar World Cup 2022.

At the Khalifa International Stadium in the Qatari capital, Doha, the Senegal national team managed to qualify for the 16th round by defeating its Ecuadorian counterpart.

Ismaila Sarr opened the scoring for the Lions in the 44th minute from a penalty kick.

Before Ecuador equalized the score through Moses Caicedo in the 67th minute, and only 3 minutes passed until Chelsea star defender Kalidou Koulibaly scored the winning goal for the Senegalese.

This is the second time in the history of the " Lions of Teranga " team that qualifies for the round of 16, after the 2002 edition that was held in South Korea and Japan.

Historical hero

Aliou Cisse, coach of the Senegalese national team, has become a historic hero for his country, after leading them to the World Cup final price as a player and coach as the first African to achieve this achievement.

Cisse succeeded in the first time as a player during the 2002 edition to reach the quarter-final stage with the " Lions of Teranga", and in the second time as a coach during the current edition, he managed to qualify for the round of 16 so far.

Diop's memorial

The Senegal National Team and its fans commemorated the death of the former legend of the Senegal national team, Papa Bouba Diop, who died two years ago.

The day of the match, November 29, coincided with the anniversary of his death two years ago, at the age of 42, after a struggle with illness, and he was buried in his hometown in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.

As a group of Senegalese fans wore shirts bearing Diop's name and the number 19 he wore with Senegal, while other fans raised banners reading: "The real lion never dies," attached to Diop's picture, to commemorate the death of the late legend.

Kalidou Koulibaly, defender and captain of Senegal, also wore the captaincy bearing the number 19 of the legend Diop.

It is noteworthy that Papa Bouba Diop represents a real legend for the fans of Senegal, as he was the scorer of the first goal for his country in the history of the World Cup, during their first World Cup match, which came at the opening of the 2002 edition hosted by South Korea and Japan when Senegal detonated a surprise of the caliber and defeated the world cup champion at the time was France with a goal to nil, which was scored by the late Papa Bouba Diop himself