Abdoulaye Wade Stadium, the new African cauldron

The Abdoulaye Wade stadium in Diamniadio, which hosted the Senegal national football team’s first official match on Tuesday, was turned into a cauldron by excited fans who pushed the Lions to victory.

The Abdoulaye Wade stadium in Diamniadio, which hosted the first official match of the Senegal national football team on Tuesday, was transformed into a cauldron by excited fans who pushed the Lions to victory, synonymous with qualification for the World Cup. against Egypt.

The match, which was sold out in front of 50,000 spectators, lived up to all its pre-match promises.

The thousands of Lions supporters who stormed the Abdoulaye-Wade stadium very early on did everything they could to put their team on the right track for qualification. A mobilization whose scale exceeded all expectations.

The queues in front of the various entrances to the stadium stretched for several hundred meters. A real human tide braving the dust and the cold blowing on Dakar, Tuesday morning, rushed towards Diamniadio.

Dressed in the national colors, headbands around their heads and wrists, flags in their hands and whistles in their mouths: the supporters relentlessly raised the mood in the morning until the victorious shot by Sadio Mané.

This unique atmosphere around the stadium was just a taste of the incredible and boiling atmosphere that was preparing inside the stadium and in the stands.

The magic emanating from the bewitching communion between the twelfth Gaindés, the “Allez Casa” and the supporters of the day, operated in the delivery and performance of Aliou Cissé’s men.

When they entered the field for the warm-up, the Senegalese players were treated to a real ovation.

When Sadio Mané harangued the public, the stadium is boiling. The temperature went up another notch. The tom-toms and the drums resounded even more. Chants, applause and cheers accompanied the slightest gestures of the national team.

The fantastic Senegalese public sang a vibrant national anthem with full gusto.

However, these thousands of spectators did not only have the mission to stimulate the players of Senegal. They also had to destabilize the adversary, Egypt at all costs.

A role that they held to the extreme limit. Mohamed Salah and his teammates are booed on their every move. Hostilities are launched from the Egyptian national anthem, the Senegalese public not intending to give a gift to its adversary.

The Lions of Senegal electrified by supporters so overflown, had especially not the right, Tuesday afternoon, in this cauldron, to miss the story.

They knew that on March 29, 2022, their mission was to write new beautiful pages in the history book of Senegalese football, already rich with a fresh African Cup of Nations (CAN), torn off on penalties. , on February 6 against the same Egyptian team.

It was unthinkable for Sadio Mané and his teammates to disappoint. In a scramble in the opposing area, in the 2nd minute, Boulaye Dia opened the scoring. It’s the excitement in the stadium. An indescribable joy. The mobilization and commitment of an entire country rewarded.

Boulaye Dia and Ismaila Sarr in the last 45 minutes of the match, Bamba Dieng and Pape Abou Cissé in extra time had enough to end the match, but fate would have it that a football match between these two teams always ends in shoot to the net. And in the end, Senegal wins.

Sadio Mané, the last shooter as in the CAN final, once again gave a smile to millions of Senegalese, but especially to supporters who played a key role in qualifying for the World Cup scheduled for November 21 to December 18. 2022 in Qatar.

After the 2002 and 2018 editions, Senegal won its third qualification for a World Cup.