Senegal will fancy their chances of getting their Group H 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign off to a winning start when they host Togo in Thies on Wednesday night, kick-off at 16h00 GMT.
The Teranga Lions enjoyed successful 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaigns and will be looking to bring that form into the preliminaries for Qatar 2022.
Senegal have appeared in World Cup in two occasions with the latest being 2018 in Russia, while Togo have been at the finals of the global tournament finals once at Germany 2006.
The Teranga Lions coach Aliou Cisse, a famous member of that 2002 squad, is someone who is determined to guide Senegal for a back-to-back World Cup qualification.
Senegal have galaxy of stars that are expected to shine including Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Idrissa Gueye and Liverpool forward Sadio Mane.
However, Cisse has acknowledged the danger posed by their opponent group opponents but he believes his charges can give them a run for their money.
“Togo is team has individual qualities, can play defensively and has the potential to play in small spaces with beautiful athleticism.To win, we have to be at 100 percent,” said Cisse.
Togo recently appointed Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte who has named a very young side as Togo goes through a translation period.
Duarte snubbed regulars Finally Henrytse, Doke Joshua, Adry Kossi Agbéko of Dyto, Djehani Nguessan of ASC Hayableh as well as Steve Lawson of Livingstone FC.
However, he believes his young side can provide shocker though he is well aware of the threat posed by Teranga Lions whom he didn’t shy to say are the favourites.
“ Senegal are the favourites and the best team in Africa right now. They’ve got a lot of quality players. On paper, they’re the team to beat in the group, though anything can happen in football,” Duarte said.
“We have a young squad that lacks international experience. We need at least two years of work to get to where Togo were at before. We’ve got a lot of tactical work ahead of us. We need to improve a few things and look at the psychology too.”
The other Group H match this weekend sees Namibia host Congo in Orlando Stadium in South Africa on Wednesday 2 September.
