And Africa breaks through in Doha: Senegal, go ahead

Oddly enough, Ecuador is out of the World Cup.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
29 November 2022 Tuesday 11:36
17 Reads
And Africa breaks through in Doha: Senegal, go ahead

Oddly enough, Ecuador is out of the World Cup.

The comment is relevant, since the Ecuadorians have played a more than correct tournament. Relying on the magnificent Enner Valencia, until this Tuesday the author of the last five goals for his country in a World Cup (three these days), Ecuador had run over the extinct Qatar in its debut (2-0) and had planted it face the Netherlands in their second date (1-1).

Reasonably well, then.

Reasonably well until this Tuesday, when the ghosts appeared and Enner Valencia disappeared and the Ecuadorians faded away, perhaps victims of stress and expectations.

So everything that Ecuador should have done ended up being done by Senegal, the last champion of the African Cup, a country with outstanding debts since the last edition, Russia 2018, out in the league.

Even feeling the absence of their star, the great Sadio Mané –injured a week before the opening of the tournament–, the Senegalese came out in tune, assuming the urgency and committing to their responsibilities.

They had to win or win, and that spirit accompanied them for a good part of the match, nothing to do with the Ecuadorian dilemma.

At this point in the tournament, the dramas take shape. At the Khalifa International Stadium, the episode was magnificent. Ecuador and Senegal were playing a final, and the fight raised multiple questions.

In the history of the World Cup, we do not remind either of them of great passages, nor great feats, nor missteps. The two move on the border of the league, a border that they have crossed on occasion, they have never gone much further.

If anything, by pedigree, more things were expected from Ecuadorians. To win a place in the World Cup, they have to deal with Brazilians, Argentines, Colombians, Uruguayans, Chileans or Peruvians, little joke.

Until now they had always done their homework, no more. Shrunken this time, the Ecuadorians found themselves devoured by the African gale, embodied by Koulibaly in the rear and by Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, in attack.

If someone suffered from Sarr, it was Angelo Preciado. The Watford star caracoleada, accelerated, cut and beat Preciado, who did not know where he was going to be broken.

One of those squeezes from Sarr led him to the area, and in the cut he dislocated Preciado and caused the entry of Hincapié, an elephant in a china shop that knocked down the Senegalese before telling the referee everything. Nothing and no one was going to be able to stop the fate of the Ecuadorians: minute 44 was running, Sarr launched a perfect penalty and Ecuador got stuck.

The goal would enervate Ecuador, which was showing its teeth at the start of the second half, when it forced the tie (Caicedo, in 66), but it was going to wrinkle again later, just four minutes later, when Koulibaly hunted a shot that no Ecuadorian he had succeeded in clearing.

Sulky and desperate, Ecuador bowed its head, unable to approach Edouard Mendy's goal in the last twenty minutes.

Ecuador: Galindez, Preciado (Porozo 85), Felix Torres, Hincapie, Estupiñan, Alan Franco (Sarmiento 46), Gruezo (Cifuentes 46), Moses Caicedo, Silver, Enner Valencia and Estrada (Djorkaeff Reasco 64).

Coach: Gustavo Alfaro

Senegal: Edouard Mendy, Sabaly, Koulibaly, Diallo, Jacobs, Pape Gueye, Idrissa Gueye, Pathe Ciss (74), Ndiaye (75), Ismaila Sarr and Boulaye Dia (95).

Coach: Aliou Cissé

Stadium: Jalifa International Doha (44,569 spectators).

Referee: Clement Turpin (France).

Cards: Yellow to Idrissa Gueye.

Goals: 0-1 Ismaila Sarr (p) (44), 1-1 Caicedo (68), 1-2 Koulibaly (70).