Aliou Cisse: Senegal fears no team

by Helder Ribiero

Saturday Jun 22, 2019. 09:00

Senegal head coach Aliou Cisse says his side will adopt a match-by-match approach at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with the aim to do better than the quarter-finals outing at the last edition in Gabon in 2017.

Cisse is one of few coaches who will be making back-to-back appearances, from the last time. The Teranga Lions are housed in Group C with Algeria, Kenya and Tanzania. Below are excerpts of the interview with CAF's official website:

Senegal is in Group C with Algeria, Kenya and Tanzania. How do you fancy your chances?

Aliou Cisse: It is a balanced group for my team. Currently, there are no more small or big teams. All qualified teams will be in Egypt to fight and try to achieve the best possible result. We will have with us Algeria, a regular at this event, and also Kenya and Tanzania. We cannot underestimate Kenya and Tanzania despite their status. We must also prepare well to properly approach the competition.

Your clash with Algeria will be the third time in a row. How will you prepare for it?

As fate would have it, it is the third consecutive time that we will play Algeria at the group stage. We played against each other in 2015 (Equatorial Guinea), 2017 (Gabon), and in Egypt, our paths will cross again. It is a long history between the two teams. Algeria have improved after the arrival of Djamel Belmadi, who is my friend. We grew up in the same neighbourhood in Paris. It will be a beautiful battle. Senegal and Algeria are the favourites of this group, but Kenya and Tanzania should not be underestimated. I can tell you, Senegal is not afraid of any team today.

What targets have you set for your team?

We will take it game by game because we know that anything can happen. It is true that we are one of the favourites, but to reach that level we will have to beat everyone, and it will begin with Tanzania on June 23rd. We must focus on our abilities and not think of our opponents.