Sheffield United: How Senegal chief’s comments could signal World Cup debut for Iliman Ndiaye
Iliman Ndiaye, the Sheffield United star, could be handed his World Cup debut later this week after Senegal kicked off their Qatar 2022 campaign with defeat to the Netherlands.
Already shorn of the services of star man Sadio Mane, Senegal boss Aliou Cisse elected to leave Ndiaye on the bench against the Dutch and play Boulaye Dia as a lone striker, in front of Ismaila Sarr, Idrissa Gana Gueye and Krepin Diatta.
But Cisse’s side had only four shots on target as they fell to a 2-0 defeat and the boss was critical of his forward players after the game – leading to speculation that Ndiaye, who is United’s joint-leading scorer this season with nine goals to his name, may get a chance on Friday against hosts Qatar.
"We are disappointed to have not scored, we had two or three very good chances," Cisse said. "We needed to be more effective in front of goal. Ismaila and Krepin are responsible there, but of course, the absence of Mane is a problem for us.
"Our attackers are good and we know what they are capable of. It was a challenging game... We need to work on [scoring goals] with Ismaila and the others. We expect a lot from him and Krepin."
Ndiaye’s hopes of coming off the bench were likely damaged by injuries to two of his teammates, Cheikhou Kouyate and Abdou Diallo. Senegal round off their group campaign against Ecuador next Tuesday.
"If we had won, we would have got off to the best start,” Cisse said.