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Senegalese Lamine Gassama after the elimination of the "Teranga Lions" at the 2018 World Cup. REUTERS / Max Rossi

Senegal wounds its wounds in the aftermath of the defeat against Algeria (1-0) which puts it in an uncomfortable position before crossing Kenya Monday, July 1st. At the end of Friday's training, the right-back defender, Lamine Gassama, returned to the deficiencies displayed by his team against the Fennecs, and spoke of the desire of the players to recover as soon as possible.

Collected by our special envoy in Cairo,

Lamine, in what state of mind is the selection in the aftermath of the defeat against Algeria (1-0)?

The group is sad about the result of yesterday (Thursday). We remobilized. It's a match that was played on some details. We became aware of the shortcomings we had in this game and tonight (Friday) we will see the mistakes made to correct it as soon as possible and think about the next game.

With hindsight what was lacking in Senegal against Algeria?

I think it's our first step. We had difficulties to put in place in the first ten minutes. After, during the match, we tried to return to the score, we created situations, but Algeria was solid. But on that match, there were also good things and it will be necessary to rely on it.

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Did you expect such an aggressive team to present Algeria as a technical team?

It is a technical team, but we must not forget that we are also in Africa and the matches are very physical with a lot of impact. We were not surprised at their impact, now it is up to us to show that we are also strong in this area. The physical impact is part of our DNA. The team showed character. This Algerian team was able to contain us. She also made a lot of mistakes to get us out of the game. They knew how to break our game. But there is no need to worry; there is still a match and we have our destiny in hand. We must prepare the next match.

Indeed, Kenya, next opponent, also keeps all chances to qualify. What kind of meeting do you expect?

We know they won (against Tanzania, 3-2), so there will be a huge challenge. After that, we need to focus on Senegal. I think Kenya is going to adapt to our style of play and not the other way around. We will try to play and win this game. The pressure is a little harder, because we have all the attention of the continent. After that, we have enough maturity to ignore that. It's been four years since the group grew together and we are mature enough to put that pressure aside and focus on us.