The absence of Senegalese star Sadio Mane was not unusual for his country's loss to the Netherlands with two clean goals in the first group of the World Cup in Qatar.
And you can imagine, dear reader, that there is a player who is the first star of his team and his historic scorer and led him to win the African Championship after lean years and qualify for the World Cup. His opponents and competitors wish him to be present in the match.
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The absence of Sadio Mane, the actual captain of Senegal and the star of the first team, took over the questions we asked the elected players. Virgil van Dyck, captain of the “mills” team and former colleague of Mane in Liverpool, confirmed that he was saddened by the absence of the Bayern Munich star from the World Cup, stressing that “my friend Sadio has a strong personality and will return stronger.” despite the sadness and sorrow that accompanies the issue,” and expressed his full support for a “wonderful person on the football and human levels.”
Likewise, defender Matthias de Ligt, who told Al-Jazeera Net, that he was "unhappy with his absence, even if in his presence - as a defender - he would suffer, and that he would have liked to face his colleague in Bayern Munich, but the Senegal national team - despite Mane's absence - is still strong and has distinctive elements." ".
In the context, Andres Nobert, who played his first international match and starred with 4 saves against Senegal, considered that with or without Mane, the Dutch national team "has the best defenders in the world and I believed in my abilities and took advantage of the opportunity that was given to me and I will work hard to continue the performance that I presented against Senegal." .
As for the captain of the Senegalese national team, Khalido Coulibaly, he acknowledged that the task would be more difficult without Mane, but stressed that the team had good elements and could replace the Bayern Munich star, and pointed out that despite the loss, the team missed several opportunities and presented a somewhat “balanced” match.
He added that the team is in a "critical" situation after losing its first match, and it must compensate in the next two matches against Qatar and Ecuador, noting that "football is a win and a loss, and no one bears the responsibility alone, but the team as an integrated unit."
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candidate for the title
After the victory, we asked a question to the Dutch players if what the team that lost 3 finals in the World Cup did: Is the team among the favorites to win the title?
The answers varied.
Liverpool defender Van Dyck said, "Let's see how things develop. We won 3 points, and we want to continue at this pace, and the championship is still in its infancy."
In turn, Memphis Depay, the Barcelona player, smiled and refused to comment or respond to the question.
As for Frankie de Jong, the Barcelona player, he answered in one word to the question, “No.” We are not among the candidates.
While Stephen Bergwain, striker of Ajax and the Dutch national team, considered that we are developing with every match we play together and trying to provide positive results and go far in the tournament.
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tough group
Senegalese striker Boulaye Dia told Al-Jazeera Net that "the team will not give up after the loss and that it is fighting for every point in its remaining two matches in the group stage against Qatar and Ecuador."
He continued, "Despite the disappointment of the first match, we will not lose hope and continue to develop."
In the context, Coulibaly talked about the loss and considered that the team should improve in many ways and that he should forget about facing the Netherlands and think about the next two matches, because they are decisive and difficult at the same time.
On the other hand, Memphis Depay and Nathan Ake Stephen Berjwain unanimously agreed that the Netherlands national team did not perform at the required level, especially in the first half, and despite the team's success in beating the African champion with two unanswered goals, he must improve his performance, especially since there are two strong matches awaiting him with Ecuador and Qatar.
The Netherlands national team achieved a difficult victory over its Senegalese counterpart with two unanswered goals scored by Cody Jakobo (84) and Dave Klassen in the eighth minute of time instead of lost for the match.