Speaking to reporters on Friday, Senegal assistant coach El Hadji Diouf had the following to say on his country’s upcoming Round of 16 clash with England on Sunday.
“I never say Senegal can’t win. It reminds me of when we play against France: they win the game before they play it and I think England today do the same thing, which is good for us. We don’t have anything to show the world. If you see our squad, we have Édouard Mendy, we have Kalidou Koulibaly [both Chelsea], we have a lot of good players in England. Some play in the Championship but they are really Premier League players, like Ismaïla Sarr [of Watford]. It’s for them to show how good they are. It is a wonderful draw — who would not want to play this game? The players are excited. Talking to the boys it’s about big games, big players, they have to show how good they are. And definitely, this game is going to be very exciting because England have a good team, good players. I know we are not the favourites but we are going to do everything to beat them and the players can do it.”
“We are always going to win on penalties. If we get to penalties we’re going to win it. Easy. I know the goalkeeper we’ve got [Mendy] and I know we can stop some of their penalties.”
GWFN
