In 2002, Senegal surprised the world at the World Cup by defeating then-champion France, a surprise caused by the “disrespect” and ignorance of the Bleus towards the African team, two of their protagonists, David Trezeguet and Khalilou Fadiga, remind AFP.
“We have to admit that we didn’t know them very well. We realized too late that mistakes are not allowed in football,” says Trezeguet, France’s center forward at the time.
“Reading the press, we noticed the ignorance of the French coaches and directors at the time. It was almost offensive”, says Fadiga, left winger for the Senegalese national team.
“Three-quarters of us had graduated in France, we played in the French championship. Therefore, we played with this patriotic outlook”, adds the former PSG trained player.
The teams will face each other again this Tuesday, at 4 pm, in the debut of the World Cup. Globo, SBT, SporTV, CazéTV, getv and NSports broadcast the match.
After the world title in 1998 and the European Championship two years later, France “was there to win the tournament, but in football everything can change very quickly, and the defeat reminded us of that in a brutal way”, says Trezeguet, remembering the painful elimination in the group stage, against Denmark and Senegal, in a bracket that also included Uruguay.
“Very early on we didn’t feel comfortable in the match. And in a counterattack, Senegal scored. From then on, the game became even more difficult. We never managed to find the necessary solutions”, says Trezeguet, former striker for Monaco, Juventus and River Plate, among others, and currently a sort of ambassador for the Argentine team.
‘END OF CYCLE’
What were the consequences of that match? For Fadiga, the recognition for the Senegalese team: “Some looked at us with disdain and that victory allowed us to put things in their place. We forced them to respect us.”
“Without us realizing it, after the 1998 and 2000 titles, we reached the end of a cycle”, says the former Bleus number 9.
The historic victory for Senegal could be repeated in 2026 — although the expectation is no longer that this would be a huge surprise.
“As happened to us in 2002, I tell them not to focus on the match against France. Above all, I want them to finish the work we started and be able to reach the end of the tournament”, says the Senegalese.
