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Key events
14 min Eeee, Koulibaly gives it away to Dembele, who again looks for Mbappe in behind … and almost gips up his upper intestine when it transpires he’s given the pass excess gas. That was, I think, the kind of thing Cherki would pull off without thinking about it.
12 min Lovely from Dembele, punching the kind of pass Mbappe needs, in behind … and again, his touch is poor, so too his decision to control with his ball-side right, rather than let it run past on to his goal-side left. Yes, you read that correctly: that is me telling the leading scorer in the last two World Cups how to get himself in on goal, for the second time.
10 min “Always worth mentioning that Papa Bouba Diop was part of a midfield named Papa, Steed, Sylvain, Clint,” recalls Gavin Hutchinson, “which has a great international playboy feel (and with Carlos Bocanegra, Moritz Volz and Luis Boa Morte often in the same team…)”
Steed, of course, is most famous for being Tony Blair’s workshopped favourite player, just as Ode to Joy was his favourite tune when interviewed on Radio 3 and Sympathy for the Devil on Radio 2.
9 min Senegal will be happy with how they’ve started – they look the stronger, more energetic team, at it while France are hoping to settle in slowly.
7 min Nice from Senegal, a Jackson flick sending Sarr nashing goalwards. But Upamecano does really well to stick with him then hold him up, then block.
6 min “In response to Gary Stover, says Justin Kavanagh, “if the game was played on paper, they’d be presenting the trophy to Les Blues today. But, as Spain found out yesterday, the game is played on grass, often against 11 very stubborn blokes from somewhere foreign determined to put their country on the map. Just like Senegal did in 2002.”
I don’t love France’s balance; i fancy Portugal, but in a big knockout contest, it’s hard to back against Spain despite yesterday, because of how good they are at retaining possession.
4 min Rabiot picks up a knock-back from Olise and punches an instapass at Mbappe, who might let it run by him and set off because he’s in, but instead looks to control, only to catch it on the buttock.
3 min Jackson has himself on a rolling boil already, the ref forced to administer a talking-to, then the ball comes in Tchouameni treads on Maignan, and the ref awards France the free-kick.
1 min Right away, Kounde makes a mess of a ball coming over his shoulder then, shortly afterwards, Saenegal set Diouf away down the left. His cross is as brilliant as we’ve come to expect from him, Hernandez forced to head behind, really well, in the knowledge Sarr is loitering behind him.
1 min These kick-off countdowns are really helpful – how would we know it was coming otherwise? Off we go!
We’re pretty much ready to go…
This is, of course, Senegal’s first tournament game since the Afcon title was taken away from them. A few minutes ago, Wayne Rooney was on UK telly disagreeing with the decision, saying the match was played out, and I understand that. But I’m afraid Fifa felt the need – not without reason – to make the point, pour encourager les autres, that you can’t stalk off the pitch if you don’t like a refereeing call.
Anthem time!
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come! It’s sunny, the sky is clear, and the ground looks reme. I can’t wait for this, and the good news is I – and we – don’t have to.
“That Senegal kit is indeed a beezer,” agrees Simon McMahon, “but the one France are warming up in is class too. Bonus style points for both teams.”
My (brief) time as a City lawyer has given me a lifetime aversion to pinstripes, I’m afraid, but I guess these are on-theme, looking, as they do, like the reverse of a New York yankees uniform.
“We were intending to watch the game on the big screen in the salle des fêtes of our local village in SW France, in solidarité with our fellow villagers,” advises Richard Hirst. “Unfortunately the day rather got away from us, so we’re at home instead. In any case, half of me would have been secretly favouring Senegal, to support the underdogs and to honour Fulham legend Papa Bouba Diop. In support of his status I was going to reference the goal against Man Utd, even at the expense of your goodwill, but you have very generously got there before me. So it’s allez Les Bleus, but only 50%.”
I’m sure they’d have welcomed a Senegal supporter, but glad to hear a day’s got away from you. May that joy soon come to us all.
So where is the game? France are, I think, vulnerable at full-back, Koundé liable to lose his bearings and Hernandez better going forward. I’d expect Senegal to look to gang up on the, especially down their left, where Diouf and Mané are a serious threat, and I also wonder if Dayot Upamecano, much improved by still liable to switch off, might struggle with Nicolas Jackson who, though he’s not a reliable scorer, holds the ball up well and sees things others don’t. Finally, will Rabiot fancy chasing Camara back to his own box? He’s going to have to.
France, meanwhile, will see a lack of pace in the middle of the Senegal defence and ask Mbappé to challenge the space behind them, Dembélé and Olise looking to slide him in. The wide men will, I think, also look to take the full-backs infield, seeking to get off shots or duck outside to hit the line and cut-back.
Regular readers will know that, if we can get them, we like to embed playlists from competing nations so, as Delia Smith would say, if anyone has a Senegal or France one, let’s be having you.
“It was interesting to hear on Football Weekly about the experience of watching the World Cup from UK with the late kick-off times,” says John Brennan. “I suffer from almost the opposite problem. I live in New York and work a 9-5 so most midweek games are on in my afternoons and I usually follow on Guardian MBMs (others are available too I hear). Having games on in the evening after I get home from work is a huge shock to my system. Even the late night games are a pleasant addition to my life. USA v Paraguay was a pretty good watch last Friday and Iran v New Zealand was a pleasant nightcap before I went to bed last night (game finished at 11pm on the East Coast).
Please spare a thought for my wife who knows I’m a huge sports fan but it hasn’t really encroached that much on our life as even weekend games are over by lunchtime normally so there is still a lot of the day free to do whatever we want to do and she doesn’t have to worry about me hogging the TV to watch games. Until now.”
I feel you. I was in NYC for my wife’s 30th and my team were playing, so of course I imposed it, but we were done by early morning. I’m pleased you’re getting to experience the more sociable, anti-social aspect.
You may or may not have seen the wonderful new Senegal kit, printed inside-out. What a beauty!
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Yes, yes, don’t worry, it’s coming. It is of course, impossible to mention our dear departed without also mentioning this goal.
I was in the away end that night, right behind the shot, and you knew it was in from the second he conencted.
We mentioned the Bouba Diop winner and celebration earlier; well, here it is.
“On paper,” writes Gary Stover, “France look better to me than PSG.”
I know what you mean – Mbappé is a very nice to have – but I think I prefer the blend with Kvaratskhelia, and definitely don’t think Mbappé adds enough for me to sacrifice Neves and Vitinha. If it clicks, though, everyone is in trouble.
“I must say that I’m a bit surprised to see Idrissa Gueye starting for Senegal, seeing as he’s the oldest member of the team by two years,” says Matt Burtz. “He’s of course also the most capped member of the team, so perhaps experience entered into the equation. His performances for Everton flagged as bit as the season came to a conclusion and it wasn’t because Everton played an excessive number of games, though Gueye’s Afcon participation added to his personal log.”
Yeah, Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo also struggled to get going again after coming back from Morocco, but I agree that Gueye is probably playing because he’s the oldest member of the team, not in spite of it. Against Norway and Iran, I’d not be surprised to see Sarr come in, but I guess Pape Thiaw wants his experience and positional discipline against so potent an attack.
Before I take a moment to write the teams down, credit where it’s due: that lovely quotation about hacking and Frenchmen deployed in the preamble comes from Nick Greene’s terrific new book, How To Watch Soccer Like a Genius: What Architects, Stuntwomen, Paleoanthropologists, and Computer Scientists Reveal About the World’s Game. Recommended.
As for Senegal, Idrissa Gueye and Papa Gueye are preferred to Pape Matar Sarr in midfield – I’m a little surprised as I think his athleticism is important – while Iliman Ndiaye must content himself with a place on the bench, but he’ll know that Mané and Sarr are pretty well ensconced as wide attackers.
So what does it mean? Well, France are pretty much as expected, Desiré Doué having moved ahead of Marcos Thuram in the right-wing stakes – rightly so, his skill superior and work-ethic at least as good – while Ousmane Dembélé, yet to sync with Kylian Mbappé, in behind him. Don’t be surprised if, at some point during the competition, that spot goes to Rayan Cherki, but for now, the name harder to leave out is preferred to player who better fits. And otherwise, we can, I’m sure, all agree that, after the apocalypse destroys the entirety of humanity, Adrien Rabiot will still be there, starting for Les Bleus in international tournaments.
Teams
France (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Hernandez T, Saliba, Upamecano, Kounde; Rabiot, Tchouameni; Olise, Dembele, Doué; Mbappe. Subs: Akliouche, Barcola, Cherki, Digne, Gusto, Hernandez L, Kanté, Konaté, Koné, Lacroix, Mateta, Risser, Samba, Thuram, Zaïre-Emery.
Senegal (4-2-3-1): Mendy É; Diatta, Niakhaté, Koulibaly, Diouf E; Gueye P, Gueye I, Camara; Sarr, Jackson, Mané. Subs: Ciss, Diao, Diaw, Dieng, Diouf Y, Jakobs, Mbaye, Mendy A, Ndiaye I, Ndiaye C, Sarr M, Sarr P, Seck.
Referee: Alireza Faghani (Australia)
Preamble
There are some fixtures that need only the names of the teams to get us going and France v Senegal is one such, a meld of nostalgia, history and righteous indignation. “I think Senegal will win,” says Othmane Sonoko, former prime minister and speaker of the Senegalese parliament, “but in any case, whichever team wins, it is Africa that will have beaten Africa.”
The teams, of course, met in the World Cup 2002 opener, a game which featured one of the great centre-forward displays from El-Hadji Diouf and one of the great celebrations following Papa Bouba Diop’s goal, which secured one of the great shocks. Nor did things improve for France thereafter, eliminated bottom of the group with one point and no goals, the worst-ever performance from a defending champion. The teams have not met since.
But as Sonoko implies, they remain inextricably linked. France began colonising Senegal in 1659, it wasn’t until 1960 that independence was retaken, and it was less than a year ago that France gave up the last of its military bases. No country has more World Cup players born within its borders than France, who account for 98 of the 1248 – Netherlands are next with 67, then England with 49 – of which 10 are representing Senegal.
And what a squad they’re part of, Senegal solid at the back, but a lot more interesting further forward. Lamine Camara is a dynamic midfielder who blends old school new, able to do a bit of everything but at warp speed and is, presumably, soon to arrive at a Premier League team near you; alongside him, Pape Matar Sarr is already there, and there are various excellent candidates to complete the trio, as well as 18-year-old Bara Sapoko Ndiaye of Bayern Munich, likely to be kept in reserve but a very serious talent. Then, up front, Sadio Mané and Ismaïla Sarr will presumably flank Nicolas Jackson, with Iliman Ndiaye and Ibrahim Mbaye ready to explode off the bench. If you’re gently whistling to yourself, fear not: so you should be.
In 1863, when various bodies in England were trying to standardise the laws of the game, a dispute developed regarding the banning of “hacking”, deliberately kicking an opponent’s legs – a point on which Francis Maule Campbell of Blackheath Football club took a strong position. “You will do away with all the courage and pluck of the game,” he said, “and I will be bound to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you with a week’s practise.”
Well, the 2026 iteration are more than able to take care of themselves should things become physical – just ask Fede Valverde – but boast perhaps the most ridiculous cadre of attackers ever seen. Whether Didier Deschamps can perm the best combination from those available – perhaps – then allow them to express themselves – almost definitely not – remains to be seen, but at any point, both of those aspects can be overriden by talent of intense and divergent brilliance.
If there’s one thing the games we’ve seen so far have taught us, it’s that we’ve no idea from where our eternal moments are coming, just that they are. So it feels vaguely silly to be make a bold statement about this one, but the piquant ingredients make it the likeliest banger of the group stages, and decent barometer of where these exciting outfits are it. Chouette! On y va!
Kick-off: 3pm local, 8pm BST, 5am AEST
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