Could Sheffield United’s starboy be handed his world cup debut by Senegal’s coach Aliou Cisse against Qatar on Friday?
It was a disappointing start to Senegal’s world cup campaign on Monday when they lost 2-0 to the Netherlands, with the scoreline being quite a deceiving one. The Netherlands didn’t look impressive and if they came away with a point in that game, it would’ve been more than a fair result.
From a Sheffield United perspective, it was disappointing to see Iliman Ndiaye being left on the bench by Aliou Cisse. Cisse chose to bring on Nicolas Jackson, of Villarreal, and Ahmadou Bamba Dieng, of Marseille, as his only attacking substitutes.
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.
Will Cisse look to hand Ndiaye a world cup debut for the game against Qatar?
The promising young forward of just 22 years of age has found the net nine times for the Blades in the Championship this season. Without Sadio Mane, Senegal is evidently lacking a player that can act as a link-man in the central position.
They have the pace and trickery out wide with Watford’s Ismaila Sarr and AS Monaco’s Keprin Diatta. But, Boulaye Dia, who plays for Salernitana, started as the central striker against Senegal and he registered the lowest number of touches out of any other starting player in the Senegal vs Netherlands game.