Senegal’s match scheduled for Friday evening in Rabat against the Moroccan women’s national football team for the African Cup of Nations (CAN 2022), will be “a final for first place”, said the Senegalese coach, Mame Moussa Cisse.
The women’s national team of Senegal faces that of Morocco, Friday at 9 p.m. in Rabat. The two selections with six points have already qualified for the quarter-finals of the women’s CAN which takes place in Morocco from July 2 to 23.
After the qualification, the conquest of the first place is the new objective of Senegal. “It can be decisive. We have to fight now to be first in the group, which may prevent us from crossing paths with big stables, ”said the coach of the lionesses, Mame Moussa Cissé, to MAP.
The Senegalese technician hopes that “the girls will make the reference match against Morocco, in front of their audience”. “We played two games, we won two, we have to stay in this tempo because things happen very quickly” he warns. The coach Moussa Cissé recognizes all the same that “it will not be easy against the lionesses of the Atlas”. They have to celebrate. There will be people, there will be games and it is this kind of match that can make girls grow. Against Morocco, it will be a final for the first place “ he argues.
An opinion shared by the head of women’s football at the Senegalese Football Federation Seyni Ndir Seck. “We are going to take this match in a super serene way as we have already done for our first two meetings. The advantage of being first in the group is to stay in Rabat. So we are not going to deprive ourselves of it even if we face Morocco which is the organizing country ” she says.
Seyni Ndir Seck believes that the Senegal lionesses will try to surprise the Atlas lionesses at home. And the watchword according to her, “is to fight to the end to stay in Rabat”. Senegal started the CAN 2022 well with two victories in as many games. After Uganda (2-0), the lionesses dominated Burkina Faso by (1-0). With six points, Senegal is guaranteed to play in the quarter-finals for the first time in its history.
The day after this performance, the lionesses carried out a cleaning session on one of the grounds of the FUS Academy in Rabat. “Two games, two wins, and a qualification in the quarter-finals, it’s historic for Senegal” , rejoices the head of Senegalese women’s football. She adds that this team is the culmination of work that has been carried out over time. The proof, we won the UEFOA tournament two years ago. Today we managed to qualify for the second round and I think it’s the culmination of a long process.”underlines Seyni Ndir Seck.
The one who was captain of the lionesses of Senegal, has great ambitions for the rest of the competition. She’s calling back : when we came here, I always said that the number one objective was to pass the first lap. Insofar as when we made our first African Cup, we had played three games, three defeats ” . She claims that “once you pass the first round, the appetite comes with eating”. “We are one match away from a World Cup and I think it is doable, we will just have to give our all to get there” she notes.
.