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Senegal coach Aliou Cisse is looking to forget the disappointment of two African Nations Cup finals and finally grab the title at the third attempt when his country plays Egypt in the final on Sunday in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.
The 45-year-old coach was captain of Senegal in the 2002 final, but he missed the decisive penalty kick in the loss to Cameroon, and a few months later led the team to the World Cup quarter-finals in Japan and South Korea.
Senegal has been to the grand finale of the AFCON on three occasions.
2002
2019
2021Aliou Cisse led all. 2002 as captain and the others as the head coach. LEGEND pic.twitter.com/gl5ecsx5gk
— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) February 2, 2022
Cisse trained Senegal and led it to the Nations Cup final in 2019, but lost to Algeria in Cairo with a clean goal.
One word for Aliou Cisse pic.twitter.com/ki1g9UDCoP
– Ruler 🇺🇬 (@CliveKyazze) February 2, 2022
Senegal only reached the Nations Cup final on these two occasions, although its first appearance in the tournament dates back to 1965.
Cisse is one of the longest-standing coaches with their teams in African football, as he trained Senegal in 2015 and led it to the Nations Cup finals in all editions since then, in addition to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Cisse is also a model of the growing trend of relying on local coaches in Africa, but things were not always easy for the former Paris Saint-Germain, Birmingham City and Portsmouth defender.
“I think he deserves all this success because I’ve never seen a coach who has been criticized like him in my life and yet he doesn’t give up,” Sadio Mane said after Senegal’s 3-1 victory over Burkina Faso in the semi-finals last Wednesday.
Sadio Mane 2#TeamSenegal ”Aliou Cisse is the most criticised coach I’ve ever seen in my life.”https://t.co/EiM9SE99KQ#AFCON2021 #CAN2021 pic.twitter.com/PvN3ekla2G
– Ojora Babatunde (@ojbsports) February 2, 2022
“We would like to win the title for our country and for him, because he deserves it after all he did as a player and now as a coach,” he added.
Cisse led Senegal to the top of the African team rankings, but despite the presence of players such as Mane, Kalidou Koulibaly and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, the team did not win the African World Cup.
Dakar: Scenes after the Teranga Lions sealed #AFCON2021 final spot.
It’s #TeamSenegal third appearance in the final: 2002, 2019 & 2021.
Aliou Cisse was captain 20 years ago in Mali & in charge as they lost to Algeria last time in Egypt.
Third time lucky?pic.twitter.com/mLJYb3adTN
– Oluwashina Okeleji (@oluwashina) February 3, 2022
Cisse said, “I have an exceptional and indomitable group, I have been with this team for 6 years, and for the first time I have a group like this mentally, the players really deserve the title.”
