It’s time for African teams to have a champion g oal

DBasia.news – So far, no teams from Africa have won the World Cup, only teams from Europe and South America have won it. It was the situation that Kalidou Koulibaly wanted to change.

The 31-year-old defender has 64 caps with the Senegal national team and this year has led his country to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Koulibaly, who is vocal and represents Africa, insists he wants to end the wait for the World Cup title for African teams.

According to him, it is time for teams from Africa to think higher than just thinking about qualifying for the group stage and learning from European and South American teams.

“African nations lack the confidence and self-awareness that they can actually win the World Cup,” Koulibaly told BBC Sport Africa.

“We consider that getting through the group stage is a good thing, but we have to set higher goals for ourselves.

“I don’t think that a French team or an English team are happy with getting through the group stages, they want to go further. We have to have the same mindset. That’s what I’m trying to bring to Senegal.”

“I think it’s time for an African country to give and win the World Cup as we are a talented continent. We have great players.”

No teams from Africa have ever made it past the quarter-finals of a World Cup. Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) were both eliminated in the last eight, either by extra time or on penalties.

Senegal comes to the 2022 World Cup as Africa Cup of Nations champions and is ranked 18th in the world or FIFA rankings, occupying the highest ranking of an African team since November 2018. Senegal represented Africa at the World Cup alongside Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia.

Senegal’s success in winning the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations after years of waiting, even from the heartache of finishing runner-up in 2019, and the people of Senegal are celebrating with joy on the streets.

That according to Koulibaly, who is currently defending Chelsea in the Premier League, can be an inspiration for his team to talk a lot at the 2022 World Cup.

“This Africa Cup of Nations trophy will increase self-awareness for the World Cup. We will be willing to do better,” added Koulibaly.

“Our first target is to qualify for the group stage because in 2018 we didn’t qualify.”

“The whole country will expect a lot from us, but the World Cup is just on another level. Every player dreams of playing in the World Cup so going out there and qualifying after the group stage would be great, and then we’ll improve on our goals, step by step.”

“We will go there well prepared. It will come soon but we also have to be careful because a lot can happen (before),” stated Koulibaly.

Four years ago in Russia (World Cup 2018) was a nightmare for African teams, because Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia were both eliminated in the group stage. This is a bitter lesson for Senegal.

“We still hate the 2018 World Cup, especially me, because I know we could have done better. I’m sad to go home so soon,” added Koulibaly.

“That was unfair. We thought it was going to be about goal average, but going out under the rules of fair play really hurts.”

“We learned a lot but it’s a shame, because we were able to qualify on the pitch winning the game. We didn’t do it, so the blame was on us.”

Koulibaly’s belief about teams from Africa that should be targeting the World Cup title is also based on the fact that some of the top players in Europe are in Africa like Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Riyad Mahrez. Even in the current Senegal squad there are also Koulibaly, Mane, and Edouard Mendy.

Senegal are in Group A of the 2022 World Cup along with Ecuador, the Netherlands and hosts Qatar. Their first match will be held at the Al Thumama Stadium against the Netherlands.