Senegal coach Pape Thiaw has called for greater defensive aggression and improved finishing after his side suffered a 3-1 defeat to France in their opening Group I match at the World Cup on Tuesday.
The African side produced an encouraging first-half display and looked the stronger team for long periods before the match turned in France’s favour after the break. However, Senegal failed to make their dominance count and paid the price against a ruthless French attack.
France captain Kylian Mbappe broke the deadlock in the 66th minute before Bradley Barcola doubled the lead six minutes from time. Senegal briefly raised hopes of a comeback when Ibrahim Mbaye scored in stoppage time, but Mbappe quickly responded with a long-range strike a minute later to seal a convincing 3-1 victory.
Reflecting on the result, Thiaw admitted his players made costly errors as France took advantage of defensive lapses.
“There were some mistakes, it was a collective mistake,” Thiaw said. “Sometimes we had a low line block and we were very passive on the pitch and we need to be more aggressive for the ball carriers so that certain passes don’t happen like (when France scored).”
The defeat marked a disappointing start for a Senegal team that arrived at the tournament in strong form. The Lions of Teranga had lifted the Africa Cup of Nations before the Confederation of African Football later stripped them of the title in a controversial decision earlier this year.
Despite the setback, Thiaw remains confident that Senegal can recover and advance from the group. He urged his players to quickly refocus ahead of their next match against Norway at New York/New Jersey Stadium on Monday.
“We need to remobilise the players – it’s been a long time since this team has lost a first match in a competition but we have two more matches and we still have our chances and we need to focus very well for the next match so we can get the three points,” said Thiaw.
The challenge will not get any easier for Senegal, who must now find a way to contain Norway’s prolific striker Erling Haaland. Thiaw believes the key lies in improving the team’s defensive structure and reducing the space between the lines.
“We need to keep working on that to keep the lines closer,” said Thiaw. “This will enable us to have a more compact block, not to work left to right.”
Senegal now face a crucial encounter against Norway knowing that a positive result could put their World Cup campaign back on track. However, they will need to turn promising performances into points if they are to keep their hopes of reaching the knockout stage alive.
