After losing the CAN 2002 final as captain of the Lions, and that of 2019 as coach, Aliou Cissé still has the opportunity to finally win the African Cup of Nations, this Sunday, February 6 against Egypt. History to enter definitively in the legend of Senegalese football.
From our special correspondent in Yaoundé,
Is it an inevitable meeting with his destiny or simply the inextinguishable quest of a man? The story between Aliou Cissé and the CAN trophy has been written for 20 years and could find its epilogue this Sunday February 6 during the CAN 2022 final between Senegal and Egypt. A victory for the Lions will enshrine a man who has made the African Cup his lifelong goal. ” I’m stubborn “likes to say Aliou Cissé. The coach is like the player he was: the one who “never let go”. You have to have talent, surely, but also a lot of determination to win so many appointments with glory, miss two, and come back a third time to finally try to honor it.
Aliou, the player, captain of the 2002 Lions, was the last unfortunate shooter in a series of penalty shootouts which saw Senegal lose in the CAN 2002 final against Cameroon (0-0 AP, 3-2 TAB ). Cissé, the coach, was the coach of a Senegal team, beaten for its second CAN final against Algeria in Cairo (1-0) in 2019.
Next Sunday’s Aliou Cissé will be all about the player and the coach. Memories that galvanize and an experience that could be beneficial.
Sadio Mané: He’s the most criticized coach I’ve ever seen.”
For almost seven years, the former PSG player has been building his team, shaping his group and advancing in the face of criticism, sometimes justified, often severe. Regardless, he learned to move on and today he is about to succeed in his quest to lift Africa’s most coveted trophy. ” I believe this man deserves it because he is the most criticized coach I have ever seen in my life, but he never gives upsaid Sadio Mané in the mixed zone after the semi-final won against Burkina Faso (3-1). We would like to win for our country and for him because he deserves it after everything he has been through as a player and now as a coach. »
At 45, Aliou Cissé is the second coach in the history of Senegalese football to qualify the Lions for the CAN final after Bruno Metsu in 2002. Two CAN finals in three appearances, his record since taking office in March 2015 , the day after the non-renewal of the contract of Alain Giresse eliminated with Senegal in the first round of the CAN, speaks for him.
It was largely for his qualities as a leader of men, as when he was captain, that Cissé had been chosen to give more character to a talented group. The former player imposed the triptych upon his arrival: seriousness, discipline, and above all rigor to the point of being nicknamed “Yaya Jammeh (ex-Gambian dictator) by the players during his first months at the helm of the Lions.
Responses to the 2002 Lions
For more than six years, the former Senegalese under-23 coach has progressed along with his team, evolved and let go. ” Inevitably, the Aliou Cissé of 2015 is not the Aliou Cissé of 2019, he admitted during the CAN in Egypt. In Cameroon, the technician kept his composure and showed maturity even at the height of the storm of criticism after a first round completed with only one goal from the penalty spot in three matches.
He is now used to criticism from the press, supporters and even his former teammates from 2002. To Henri Camara (“Cissé accumulates the errors “) and Khalilou Fadiga (“ He must leave if he does not win the CAN “), he answers : ” I got up every morning thinking about how to give the maximum to my Nation, to my country. That’s what I’m focused on. I let others talk about my future. »
To El Hadji Diouf, who quit after the 2018 World Cup “As long as this team has Aliou Cissé as coach, it will not go anywhere. “, he opened the doors of the selection to him as” big brother “with the players.
From zero to hero, Aliou Cissé has already experienced this. On Sunday, he will want nothing more than to leave Yaoundé with the Cup and have his name at the highest peak of Senegalese football.
► Read also : CAN 2022: for Senegal, it is necessary to “win the Cup regardless of the opponent”