Senegal promise Eagles
hell
By Onyewuchi Nwachukwu
Monday,
January 30, 2006
 |
•
Senegalese Ferdinand Coly (17) runs to the ball with
Prince Tagoe of Ghana behind him during the knock-out
round game between Ghana's Black Stars and Senegal's
Teranga Lions in the Group D of the African Nations
Cup preliminary, played in Port Said, Ghana beat Senegal
1-0.
Photo: AFP |
| |
The spirit in the training camp of the Teranga Lions of Senegal
is on an all-time high as they prepare to beat the Super Eagles
and book a place in the quarter-finals of the African Nations
Cup.
The Lions, who lost by a lone goal to Ghana in a Group D tie
last Monday here in Port Said, trained for over two hours
on a chilly Saturday night ahead of the epic clash against
the Eagles slated for Tuesday.
Coach Abdoulaye Sarr jogged around the pitch several times
with his starting defenders Lamine Diata, Souleymane Diawara
and the suspended Habib Beye in what appears to be a special
training for the defenders. While skipper Ferdinand Coly came
off the pitch a lot earlier than the rest of the squad.
Young striker Souleymane Camara did not join the rest of the
squad in the grueling training session that lasted over two
hours at their Sport Support base in Ismailia. Also missing
from training was Wigan quicksilver striker Henri Camara.
Goalkeeper Tony Sylva played as a striker during the two-a-side
games played within half of the pitch and helped himself to
at least three goals, which he celebrated in a unique way.
Beye, who was also excused from the rigorous workout, said
that the team will be gunning for victory against the Eagles.
"Victory is not negotiable. We know this will be a very
tough match but this is not the first time that we have been
faced with such a big challenge," said the Olympique
Marseille defender.
"The good thing is that we have put behind us the Ghana
match. We spoke as a team after the game and told ourselves
what really went wrong and we hope to correct these mistakes
on Tuesday against Nigeria."
The Vice-President of the Senegalese football federation Boubacar
Gaye simply said: "This is war. And we need to win to
remain in this competition."
Nigeria holds a better record in clashes between the two teams
in the Nations Cup finals. The Eagles beat the home team 2–1
at the 1992 competition. They also won 2–1 in a pulsating
quarter-final match-up at the 2000 edition which Nigeria and
Ghana jointly hosted.
While four years ago, the Eagles fell 2-1 to the Teranga Lions
in the semi-finals of the Nations Cup in Mali. |
