Morocco and Senegal, representing Africa in the final price of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, are seeking to achieve a historic achievement by defeating Spain and England and qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Senegal suffers a setback during its preparations for its upcoming Sunday match against England in the final price of the World Cup in Qatar, after its coach, Aliou Cisse, suffered a health problem, but he is expected to be with his players in the confrontation at the home stadium.

His French assistant, Reggie Bogart, said during a press conference that Cisse was unable to lead the exercises on Friday and may not be in the last training session on Saturday.

"We took over the tasks yesterday (Friday) and he gave us instructions and what we have to do," he added.

And he continued, "We hope that this afternoon (Saturday) he will be on the field, but we are confident that tomorrow evening, Sunday, at ten in the evening (local match time, 19:00 GMT) he will be the one who leads the team."

Bogart did not specify Cissé's illness, saying only, "Slight fever, so we're cautious."

Senegal qualified for the round of 16 for only the second time in its history, by defeating Ecuador in the last match of Group A, to snatch second place behind the Netherlands.

Al-Zalzouli: We have a chance to beat Spain

On the other hand, the striker of the Moroccan national football team, Abdel Samad Al-Zalzouli, expressed today, Saturday, the nature of the “Atlas Lions” preparations for the final price, by confirming that they have the opportunity to beat Spain on Tuesday at the Education City Stadium.

Al-Zalzouli said in a press conference before an evening training session at Al-Duhail Stadium, the first since reaching the second round for the second time in its history after the first in 1986: "We have confidence that we will beat Spain if we play as a team and work hard."

The striker, who was loaned from Barcelona to Osasuna this summer, added: "We have a history in the World Cup by reaching the second round 36 years ago, and we are happy to repeat this achievement and write a new history for the Moroccan national team and the Arab world."

Al-Zalzouli entered as a substitute in the first match against Croatia (0-0) and did not perform at the desired level before sitting on the bench in the next two matches against Belgium (2-0) and Canada (2-1), but he will be one of the winning cards for coach Walid Rakraki in the decisive match. Against “La Roja” by virtue of his good knowledge of Spanish football, specifically Barcelona, ​​​​where he accompanied most of its stars, such as captain Sergio Busquets, Gavi, Pedri, and Jordi Alba.

"We were very happy after qualifying, we celebrated in the dressing rooms, we danced, and we spent wonderful days. Now we focus on Tuesday's match and we have confidence in winning it," Al-Zalzouli added.

For his part, the French Toulouse striker and scorer of the second goal against Belgium, Zakaria Abu Khallal, said, "We are happy with the results achieved by the Arab teams in this tournament, especially Saudi Arabia's victory over Argentina, and I believe that the Arab teams are also happy with what Morocco achieved against Belgium and Canada. We support each other." Some and that's how we have to deal."

He added, "I am very happy to qualify for the second round, but we do not want to stop here. We want to go further and further, and God willing, we will go as far as possible, and we are very happy with the fans."

Abu Khalal praised the Regragui coach, saying, "Walid Regragui came and presented us with a new tactical (plan), and a new group, which suited us a lot and all the teams facing us find it difficult to beat us and score against us. We want to go far, far, and the coach in turn tells us that."

The training session witnessed the participation of all the players, as satisfaction prevailed among their ranks while passing the balls while they gathered in two circles, before some of them took turns on a bicycle class, especially Hakim Ziyech, the best player in the match against Belgium, and Ashraf Hakimi, the best player in the match against Canada, who played the last two matches. Despite an injury he sustained in the second half of the first match against Croatia.

Regaki, in turn, participated in the training and exchanged the ball with the players.

It is noteworthy that Regragui achieved several numbers with his country in this tournament, most notably by collecting 7 points in the group stage, an achievement achieved by England and the Netherlands only, and then led him to two consecutive victories for the first time in the history of his six participations in the tournament.