“People are proud of your journey”: A beautiful tribute to Sadio Mane to his Senegalese teammates

Sadio Mane was a big World Cup absentee for Senegal. Having been injured on November 8 in a match with Werder Bremen, the Bayern Munich striker was forced to forfeit his right shortly before the start of the competition. After his family’s elimination last night against England (3-0), he wanted to support his teammates via Twitter: “Dear brothers, you fell in arms. The people are very proud of your journey, which warmed the hearts of fans who worthily defend the national flag. Good luck, learning continues. We will go in search of other trophies of Inshallah.”

Unfortunately for the Teranga Lions, Sadio Mane wasn’t the only big one missing last night. Also missing are former Parisian Idrissa Gueye, suspended for the 1/8 finals, and Sheihou Koyate, who was injured in the first match against the Netherlands. Edouard Mendy expressed his regret at the absence: “We were missing a few key players. When you play against such a team, you can immediately see that it is difficult. But throughout the tournament and throughout the year, we showed that Senegal is not just a player, but a group. “But beyond the disappointment, the Senegal and Chelsea goalkeeper is optimistic about the future: “We will continue to move forward, improve and come back stronger at the 2026 World Cup.

The feeling shared by his coach Aliou Cisse: “We are at the World Cup, the best teams are there. Senegal is ranked 18th in the world, on the contrary, it was 5th or 4th. We have been working for years to raise our level on the continent. We must continue to be able to compete at the next World Cup with teams of this level. By then, Senegal will take part in CAN 2024 in Côte d’Ivoire and then attempt to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, which should be easier than usual as Africa will have nine representatives instead of the current five.