Senegal beat Oman to clinch last football place at London 2012

By David Gold at the City of Coventry Stadium

April 23 – Senegal will make their Olympic football debut this summer after they won the final men’s qualifier here with a 2-0 victory over Oman.

Goals from Ibrahima Balde and Abdoulaye Sane gave Abdoukarime Diouf’s side the ticket to London they so desperately wanted.

It was just reward for Senegal too as they edged a closely fought match, having looked more dangerous going forward throughout.

Oman competed well and had plenty of the ball, but were unable to get it into dangerous areas and found it difficult to shift their possession in the middle of the pitch to penetration in the final third as Senegal effectively used their midfield four to block the space coach Paul Le Guen would have wanted his wingers to break into.

Organisers may be secretly pleased too that the colourful and noisy Senegalese fans, who helped take tonight’s attendance to over 11,000, will be back for the Games this summer.

The game, played at Ricoh Arena, but renamed the the City of Coventry Stadium for Olympic marketing purposes, was also the first match to be staged at the ground after Coventry City’s relegation from the Championship last weekend.

Senegal led for practically the entire game, having gone ahead from the first attack just seconds in, when a free kick swung over from the right by Pape Souare was headed home by Ibrahima Balde after Omer Al Abri misjudged his attempt to gather a free kick.

Though Oman wanted to get the ball and play it patiently through the centre, they found it hard to keep the ball long enough and Senegal kept carving them open in the opening stages.

Souare broke down the left and cut into the box, but went down easily seeking a penalty and World Cup final referee Howard Webb did not hesitate to blow for an Omani free kick.

Senegal’s front three kept outnumbering Oman’s defenders on the break as they committed their full backs forward.

The African side also defended well though, and made intelligent use of a three man defence to deny space to Hussain Al Hadhri, Oman’s captain, playmaker and top goalscorer in qualifying so far with eight goals.

Senegal could have gone further ahead when Moussa Konate cut ball back into area but it was sliced wide by Kalidou Yero.

Abdoulaye Ba then shot just wide after the ball sat up nicely for him, and moments later Ibrahima Seck manoeuvred to create space in the area before seeing his shot sting the palms of

Al Hadhri then had Oman’s first shot on target with a free kick from the left, but it was never seriously threatening to go in.

Ba turned intelligently before firing just wide, as Senegal once again found Oman’s defence easy to carve open.

Yero then headed wide from a cross, before Konate sent Balde free, but his shot was saved.

There were vain appeals for an Oman penalty in the last minute of the half as a free kick caused consternation in the Senegalese area, but Webb was having none of it.

In the second half the first chance fell to Yero, from Konate’s cut back, and then Ba headed just over from another free kick, before Oman enjoyed their best period of the game.

Al Hadhri found space and shot at goal, but his effort was easy for Ousmane Mane to gather.

Moments later, Waleed Al Saadi broke down the right flank and won his race with Mane before cutting the ball across the face of goal, which was cleared for a corner.

From the subsequent set piece, another dangerous ball eluded Mane and found its way to Ali Al Jabri at the far post, but he sliced his finish when it seemed harder to miss than score.

Senegal almost made Oman pay as they worked a good move down the right hand side of the pitch and played in Pape Souare, who fired narrowly over.

Al Hadhri then played in a dangerous free kick which Mane almost failed to gather at his near post, as the game became increasingly stretched.

With both sides vacating the previously congested area in the middle of the pitch, Oman started to benefit as it meant Al Hadhri was able to get into the game more, and their smaller technical players could finally get their feet on the ball and take their time with their passing.

Souleymane Cisse was put clear on goal but fired wide of the target as Senegal looked to tie the game up, and they finally put the match to bed in the final moments as Souare put through Abdoulaye Sane, whose shot went through the legs of Al Abri and into the net.

The final whistle was met with celebrations among the Senegalese, with their players running over to their fans to perform a dance of joy.

For their defeated opponents, there was only disappointment, and Oman’s French coach Paul Le Guen said afterwards that he was “really proud of the players.”

“I appreciate their fighting spirit…it is not a shame to lose to Senegal.

“I think we had quite a good game.

“We had chances in front of the goal, only we lacked efficiency.

“They [Senegal] are taller and stronger than us,” he said, making reference to the first goal when he said “we need a tall goalkeeper, we have problems with free kicks.”

Senegal suffered a humiliating first round exit at the African Nations Cup earlier this year as they were knocked out by Equatorial Guinea, a regional minnow, and so victory tonight is a timely boost for the country’s football team.

Coach Abdoukarime Diouf insisted tonight that his team had always “worked hard and believed in themselves”, and described qualification for their first ever Olympics as “a great honour.”

FIFA have ruled that clubs must release players for the Olympics this summer, meaning the likes of Newcastle duo Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba, and Fenerbahce’s Moussa Sow, will all be strong contenders to be called up by Diouf.

Responding to a question from insideworldfootball, Diouf said that he would “of course use the best players possible, like Cisse and Ba,” but also insisted that the players who had got them to London would be frontrunners for selection.

“Let us not forget we have qualified with the players and they are the ones who deserve to be selected,” he said.

Senegal now join favourites Brazil and Spain, hosts Britain, Mexico, Honduras, Uruguay, Egypt, Gabon, Morocco, Japan, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Belarus and Switzerland.

They will find out who they will play in tomorrow morning’s draw at Wembley Stadium in London, where the final of the men’s and women’s tournaments will take place.

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