Aliou Cissé ill: Senegal team’s preparations for match against England in danger

Sene­gal have been hit hard at the World Cup after man­ag­er Aliou Cisse fell ill ahead of their round-of-16 match against England.

The 46-year-old has been ill for the past two days and did not attend the pre-match press conference.

He did­n’t train again today, so his assis­tant Reg­is Bog­a­rt will take his place.

Before the game, Bog­a­rt was opti­mistic that Cisse would lead the team tomor­row night.

He also said, “Aliu Cisse was sick and had a slight fever.

“He has been unwell for a few days and yes­ter­day allowed us to take over training.

“Obvi­ous­ly, I have passed on his instruc­tions to the play­ers and hope­ful­ly tomor­row he can come and be on the bench with the players.

But I am sure he will be with the team tomor­row night at 10pm. ”

‘Win­ning Eng­land’ is a huge accom­plish­ment. I don’t know how big it will be com­pared to the 2002 win.

“But if we can beat a team like that, it will send a strong mes­sage about our progress.”

Of Cis­se’s valu­able expe­ri­ence as a mem­ber of the Sene­galese nation­al team that beat France in Seoul 20 years ago, Bog­a­rt said, “When he speaks, he has the data and expe­ri­ence of being part of that great team in 2002.

I think the team real­ly trusts him to be part of that expe­ri­ence,” he added. ”

“He tells his play­ers that the more they play for the best clubs in the world, the bet­ter they become.”

“Old­er peo­ple have to pass that expe­ri­ence on to younger players.

“I have six play­ers who have com­pet­ed in WC, but there are many who have been suc­cess­ful and won AFCON.

“We have expe­ri­enced play­ers and I believe that noth­ing beats experience.

Bog­a­rt, who per­son­al­ly coached the Teran­ga Lions from 2012 to 2014, cred­its Cis­se’s ener­gy, integri­ty and longevi­ty as the rea­son for the coun­try’s recent boom.

“I know him very well, I know him as a play­er. Now I have been work­ing as his assis­tant for 11 years.

“We’ve been talk­ing a lot about putting a project he start­ed into action. He’s got tremen­dous ener­gy. He knows where he wants to go and he’s going to give it his all.”

“He has the abil­i­ty to learn and apply those lessons, which is very use­ful for pro­gress­ing as a team.

“He always speaks his mind straight. He’s open and hon­est, and the play­ers appre­ci­ate that. If he likes it, he says he likes it, and if he does­n’t, he says so.”

“He will leave his mark and has already left his mark with the Sene­gal nation­al team. There is none.”

Defend­er Yusuf Savary and Leices­ter mid­field­er Nam­par­is Mendy are show­ing good form against Eng­land, which is ranked 5th in the FIFA world rankings.

But it came too ear­ly for Not­ting­ham Forest’s Chekyo Kuyate.