Cheikh Ndoye: "Proud to have represented Senegal with dignity at the World Cup"
Senegalese Cheikh Ndoye.
© RFI / Xavier Regnier
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
Having become a professional late after the French and English Championships, Cheikh Ndoye returned to the French 3rd Division to rebound after a serious knee injury suffered in 2019. At 35, the midfielder boss at Red Star, club in the Paris region, draws a first assessment of his career.
Coupe de France, CAN, World Cup, the Senegalese international shares his experiences with pride.
And don't plan to stop there.
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By Xavier Regnier,
When he enters the club house at the Bauer stadium, the atmosphere immediately thickens.
From the height of his meter ninety-three, which he does not straighten until after having passed the door, Cheikh Ndoye smiles, relaxed.
Despite his international status and his experience in the French first division (Ligue 1), he knows that there is no place for the stars in Saint-Ouen, a club in the Paris region.
“
I come and get to work.
When I have to speak I speak, otherwise I behave like a normal human being.
“Humility and a taste for work, two qualities that have forged the career of the Senegalese.
Defensive midfielder and goalscorer
Trained in Yakaar in Senegal, Cheikh Ndoye landed in France on September 25, 2009, at the age of 23, and joined Epinal, in the fourth division (CFA): far from a dream life as a professional footballer.
That season, the defensive midfielder scored 11 goals in the CFA and allowed the small Vosges club to move up to the third division (National).
Twelve years later, the Senegalese has kept all his sense of goal.
Five units already this season out of the 25 scored by the Red Star in the league.
But here too, Cheikh Ndoye evacuates the praise: “
It's not something new for me, but I do not set myself the goal of scoring every weekend because it is not my role.
"
His coach at the Red Star, Vincent Bordot, is no more surprised: “
In each game, he has this desire to win, to bring a little more offensively.
It also has power, it weighs in the air.
This hunger for victory, coupled with his high level experience, makes the Senegalese one of the leaders of the Audonian locker room.
But not only.
The importance of the locker room
“
In my opinion, I am a natural leader, launches, a bit brave, Cheikh Ndoye.
When I get to the field, I have this habit of talking with everyone.
His openness to others and his taste for sharing played a decisive role in his arrival at the Red Star.
Polled by its president on the possibility of taking such a free player, Vincent Bordot was seduced by the personality of the former Angevin.
“He's someone I appreciate humanely.
He has values of mutual aid and sharing which are important to me.
"
The transplant took quickly with his teammates as well.
Another Senegalese from the club, Pape Meïssa Ba, laughs.
“
He bedrooms everyone, but the kids tease him too.
But he's a great man
, ”he hastens to clarify about the one who brings him to training every day.
“
The life of a group is the locker room,” says Cheikh Ndoye.
All the clubs I've been to, Epinal, Créteil, Angers, it's the same.
“In the Red Star, the international spreads its joy, its requirement and its experience.
Senegalese Cheikh Ndoye, in training with the Red Star, a club in the Paris region.
© RFI / Xavier Regnier
"A Coupe de France final only happens once"
Elements that weigh this season.
The Red Star is fighting for the rise in the second division (Ligue 2), but above all has a good career in the Coupe de France.
After eliminating Lens in the round of 16, the Audoniens pulled another Ligue 1 club for the eighth.
And not just any one: Olympique Lyonnais.
“
Against Lens, I told the young people to take advantage.
A Coupe de France final, like an eighth or a quarter, it only happens once.
We must give the maximum, not to have any regrets,
”asserts Cheikh Ndoye.
He can attest to that.
May 27, 2017. Stade de France.
Coupe de France final.
0-0 on the edge of added time.
Courage, Angers resists Paris Saint-Germain for the second final in its history, sixty years after a defeat against Toulouse.
On a final corner from Di Maria, the unfortunate Issa Cissokho deflects the ball into his own net.
The opportunity is missed but Ndoye retains "a great experience".
"Senegal is one of the favorites"
Adventures in cups, Cheikh Ndoye has known others.
During the CAN 2017, Senegal stops in the quarters, defeated on penalties by Cameroon.
In 2018, at the Russian World Cup, the story is shorter.
Perfectly tied with Japan, Senegal is eliminated in terms of the number of boxes, a first.
But "
I am proud of myself, to have represented my country with dignity at a World Cup
", he retains.
If he has not replayed with his selection since his rupture of the cruciate ligaments, the Audonian community still wants to believe in his presence in Cameroon for the next CAN, where "
Senegal is one of the favorites
" according to him.
“
In all the big clubs, there is a Senegalese.
I hope that Senegal will win this African Cup that the whole country has been waiting for since independence.
"
Come to the Red Star to bounce back, Cheikh Ndoye says he is not thinking about retirement.
But he can calmly look back on his career.
The "
kid who dreams of playing a World Cup
" measures how lucky he was to experience such a journey.
“
I entered the professional world a bit late, around 26-27 years old.
Someone who starts his career like that, who made an African Cup and a World Cup, who played in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, who was captain… I am proud of myself.
"
Interview by Sophiane Amazian,
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