SENEGAL have suffered a World Cup blow with manager Aliou Cisse ill on the eve of their round of 16 clash with England.
The 46-year-old has been unwell for the last couple of days and did not take his side’s pre-match press conference.
He also missed training today, with assistant Regis Bogaert having to step in.
Speaking ahead of the match, Bogaert remained optimistic that Cisse would be able to take the team tomorrow night.
He said: “Aliou Cisse is sick and he had a bit of a temperature so that’s why we had to be careful with his situation.
“He’s been sick for a couple of days now and he let us take charge of training yesterday.
“Obviously with his instructions that we got across to the players and hopefully tomorrow he will be able to come and be on the bench with the players.
“But we are sure that at 10pm tomorrow he will be there with the team.
“Beating England would be a tremendous achievement. I don’t know how important it would rate compared to the victory in 2002.
“But if we can beat a team like that, it sends out a strong message about the progress we have made.”
On Cisse’s invaluable experience as a member of the Senegal side that beat France in Seoul, Bogaert added: “When he talks he uses data and his own experiences— he was part of that great team in 2002 so I think the team really trusts him as part of that experience.
“He says that to his players, the more you play in top clubs around the world, the more you will become top-notch players, and that’s very important.
“The more mature players need to pass on their experience to the younger ones.
“There are six who played in the WC before but many of our players have won in the AFCON and even won it.
“We’ve got very experienced players and we all know nothing can replace experience.”
