DOHA – Aliou Cisse was the captain of Senegal’s impressive generation of players who beat France en route to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002, so it would be a big miss if the Africans are unable to take advantage of his expertise for their last-16 clash with England on Sunday.

Assistant coach Regis Bogaert said on Saturday that Cisse may not recover from illness in time to be in the dugout at the Al Bayt Stadium.

The 46-year-old missed his pre-match press conference, having also been unable to conduct his team’s training session on Friday.

“He has been sick for a couple of days now,” said Bogaert, who replaced Cisse to address the media.

“He let us take charge of training yesterday, obviously with his instructions to the players.

“Hopefully tomorrow he will be able to come and be on the bench with the players, but we are sure at 10pm he will be there with the team.

“I can confirm he is sick and has a bit of a temperature, that is why we have to be careful with his situation.”

Cisse led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title earlier in 2022 and, in Qatar, guided them out of the group stage of a World Cup for the first time since 2002.

But the odds are against the Senegalese as England, with their array of firepower, are favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.

African nations have lost eight of their nine World Cup knockout-round games against European sides.

The one success was in 2002 when that Senegal side beat Sweden to reach the quarter-finals.

However, Bogaert believes other surprise results at this edition can inspire Senegal.

“The message is a strong one,” said the Frenchman. “We’ve seen Cameroon can beat Brazil and Tunisia can beat France, so we know Senegal can beat England. That’s what we’re aiming for. That’s an important message.

“Beating England would be a very big moment. I don’t know exactly how was 2002 like... but I think it was extremely important. For our players, tomorrow’s game will be the same.

“We are aware that England is one of the five best nations. To beat a team at this level would be to demonstrate all the progress we have made.”

Last week, Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly called on his teammates to “make history”.

“We are like one big family and we want to make history together,” he said.

“Every game will be tough and we have to concentrate on our next game and respect our opponents.” AFP, REUTERS