Perhaps it was Roberto Martinez motivating his Belgium side when he named Group G competitor Tunisia as his surprise team for the 2018 World Cup. Martinez’s praise was in reference to their intense display in a 1-0 friendly loss against Spain last week decided only by an Iago Aspas goal in the 84th minute. Tunisia are in a difficult group with Belgium and England heavily favored to advance. Regardless, left back Oussama Haddadi is preparing for the African side to cause “a shock” in Russia.  

In only their second World Cup appearance in team history, Senegal have the best odds of winning a World Cup out of the five African sides. Colombia are favored in Group H, the with manager Aliou Cisse’s side set to battle Japan and Poland for a place in the knockout round. Senegal arguably have both the best overall attack and the best individual defender in the group. Their pacy front line lead by Sadio Mane and Keita Balde is thoroughly modern, built for the counterattacking age. Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly may be the most in-form center back in the world at the moment, with an opportunity to cement his dominance on the world’s stage. 

But African football has always been filled with big names. And while no African side has gone further than the quarterfinals in the World Cup, the lack of results are not due to individual talent (and only a Luis Suarez handball off the goal line kept Ghana from advancing to the semis in 2010). Then Ivory Coast manager Sven-Goran Eriksson recounts a story where he mentioned to Didier Drogba that they could go far in the 2010 World Cup because of their quality, to which Drogba simply replied “No we can’t”. Eriksson would come to understand that Drogba’s pessimism was grounded in a total lack of organization exemplified by one of his players unable to play a friendly because the kit man forgot to bring his cleats. The ever-knowing Drogba would only tell his manager “it’s Africa...it’s like this”. 

The 42-year-old Cisse is in his third year as Senegal manager. The former Portsmouth and Birmingham City midfielder sets his side up in counter attacking 4-3-3 formation that plays to their personnel strength. Mane, Keita and Koulibaly are the biggest names, but Idrissa Gueye and Cheikhou Kouyate provide solidity in midfield. Senegal’s overarching framework of a stingy defense, physical midfield and a pacy counter attack is reliable in tournament play. More than tactics, Cisse’s most important contribution to the side is in instilling discipline and the organization that eluded Eriksson’s Ivory Coast. But Cisse has his eye on the bigger picture of changing an entire country’s mindset, and that more than technique or hitting the right pass, his goal is to raise the “whole level of African football.”

That vision coming from a local manager representing his country is perhaps Cisse and Senegal’s biggest strength. Cisse was the captain of the side when Senegal made their upset run to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup. Senegal didn’t lose a match during their World Cup qualification run, conceding just three goals in six matches. Eriksson held up Senegal appointing a local manager as an example of how African sides could move forward on the international stage. Former Guinea-Bissau captain Bruno Fernandes says that Cisse can reach his players “in a different way” with an inherent understanding of their experiences in pursuing their career in Europe. A deep run in the World Cup could lead to more local managers getting opportunities to lead their national teams on the continent. Cisse did the hard work off the field in organizing his side. Now, all that’s left is getting results in Russia.