Consistency is always the key to achieving greater results in life and that’s exactly what Aliou Cisse did after missing a penalty kick that caused the Senegal team which he captain in 2002.
Senegal despited being constantly referred to as favorites since 2002, the West African side had failed to win the continent’s most treasured football medal. In 2019, they fell to Algeria in the final, the closest they have gone since the defeat to Cameroon.
Before the final AFCON 2021 match, Aliou was reminded of the 2002 incident, he said; “All of that is in the past. We have a different squad that is even better than 2002 and better than 2019. We will try to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes as in these finals, and we are very excited to have the chance to put the past behind us.”
Aliou Cissé 2002 Story Background
What happened to Aliou Cisse in 2002?
Twenty years ago, Senegal’s golden team lost the AFCON title to Cameroon. The current coach of the Senegalese national team, Aliou Cisse, missed the final kick in the penalty shootout to give way to Cameroon to win a second consecutive AFCON trophy in Mali.
Months later, the Teranga Lions bounced back from that heartbreaking defeat to stun France at the 2002 World Cup, beating the then-holders by just a goal in their first game.
Led by Bruno Metsu, they raced to the quarter-final of the Korea/Japan tournament but a ‘golden goal in the last eight saw them crash out to Turkey in their first World Cup outing.
Aliou Cisse was the captain of that golden generation that took the world by storm in the early 2000s.
