‘The Continent is Behind Us,’ Says Senegal’s Koulibaly

Kalidou Koulibaly will make today’s Senegal line up facing Colombia in a crucial episode and the defender feels the Teranga Lions have the rest of the continent’s backing.

Nigeria’s heart-breaking defeat to Argentina and eventual exit from the World Cup renders Senegal as Africa’s sole representatives.

A similar occurrence occurred sixteen years ago when the West Africa’s outfit were Africa’s remaining participants in the Korea-Japan global soccer event as they sailed past the group stage before getting jettisoned out of the quarters by a ruthless Turkey.

A repeat of such a feat could be on the cards today but the Lions must first shrug off competition from Colombia who needs to clutch all spoils to be assured of breezing into the next round.

And the Napoli no-nonsense centre-back draws only positives out of this rather than pressure to deliver for the continent.

“I think it has to be more of a positive thing than pressure,” Kalidou Koulibaly said in a pre-match press conference.

“We know that we have the whole continent behind us. We also know that we are able to do it. This situation must therefore be considered positively. We know that we already have 15 million Senegalese behind us. It’s up to us to wear the colors of Senegal and Africa during this World Cup,” said the 27-year-old, attracting overtures from Chelsea.

The defender will be the man tasked to put at bay the triumvirate of  Radamel Falcao, Cuadrado and James Rodriguez.