JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN - OCTOBER 10: Players of Senegal celebrate a goal during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier between South Sudan and Senegal at the National Stadium in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on October 10, 2025. (Photo by Lino Ginaba/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Ahead of today’s opening game of Group I of the 2026 FIFA World Cup between finalists at the last edition France, and (African champions before they were stripped) Senegal, today at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, fans of the Teranga Lions will be hoping for a repeat of what happened in 2002.
That year in the edition jointly hosted by Japan/ Korea, Senegal famously defeated France 1-0 in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup. That victory propelled the Senegalese to their best outing so far, reaching the quarter final. Since the , the West Africans have been unable to repeat the feat. In two other outings since then, the best they have achieved is reaching Last 16. They have been unable to keep a clean sheet in 11 World Cup Finals matches. The Senegalese Lions have been largely unconvincing in their pre-World Cup preparations.
However, Pape Thiaw’s Lions are not the team to be written off even when they appear not to be showing convincing forms. Kalidou Koulibaly who missed the final two months of the 2025-26 season after picking up a thigh injury during a training session at Al-Hilal is back to the fold. The former Chelsea centre-back played eight minutes as a substitute during Senegal’s final pre-World Cup friendly against Saudi Arabia, and could now start against France tonight.
