Senegal feeling only ‘positive pressure’
Senegal manager Aliou Cisse insists his side is embracing the pressure of defending its Africa Cup of Nations title.
Senegal lifted the trophy for the first time in Cameroon two years ago, beating Egypt on penalties in the final after the game had finished 0-0.
The Teranga Lions are among the favourites to triumph in the Ivory Coast this year and get their campaign under way against Gambia in Group C on Tuesday (1am AEDT | 3am NZDT).
“The pressure that exists is a positive pressure which motivates us to win, but I have a lot of experience because I will have my fourth experience with Senegal as coach during the Africa Cup of Nations,” Cisse said. “There are many candidates for the continental title and Senegal is not the only favourite to win the title.
“We now have a new challenge. Yesterday has passed, which was the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, and today there is the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.”
Gambia, which reached the quarter-finals on its debut in the competition two years ago before losing to host Cameroon, suffered a frightening start to its campaign when its initial flight to the Ivory Coast had to be aborted last week, just minutes after leaving Banjul.
Manager Tom Saintfiet believes a lack of oxygen prompted many of his players to fall asleep and praised the pilot for quickly realising there was a problem.
Saintfiet told BBC Sport Africa: “The local crew said there was a problem with the air conditioning before we took off but that it would be all fine when we took off.
“After a few minutes it was very hot in the plane. We all fell asleep because there was a lack of oxygen – some of the players couldn’t be woken up. The pilot noticed and we had to return.
“People got headaches and, if the flight had gone on for another 30 minutes, the whole team would have died.
“The strange thing is that the oxygen masks didn’t come out – it’s good that the pilot realised that this was a deadly situation and so turned back. But we are still in shock.”
