GHANAIAN SINKS SENEGAL AT WORLD CUP: NETHERLANDS BEAT SENEGAL 2-0

By Eniola Olatunji 

African champions, the Teranga Lions of Senegal were on Monday tamed by the Orange boys of Netherlands at the Qatar world cup 0-2 in the last moments of the match when the Senegalese lost absolute concentration on the match.

Six minutes to end the match Senegal looked good to win the match but the son of their fellow West African, Cody Gakpo whose father is a Ghanaian and mother a Dutch played the drama of the Biblical Joseph’s brother when a floating aerial cross from Frenkie De Jong hit the back of his head beating hard working Chelsea Goal tender, Edward Mendy in 84th minute for the first goal.

Senegal pumped more balls into the Netherlands vital area but the Dutch Goalkeeper frustrated every move raising the adrenalin of the fans who were praying hard for an equalizer.

Senegalese goalkeeper made a terrible error when he parried the ball to unmarked Davy Klaassen who buried the match with a classic goal number two for Netherlands.

Senegal had 4 shots on target against Ned’s 3; two late yellow cards came to Senegal and one was given Ned while Ned had 7 corner kicks to Senegal 6. Netherlands came with a defensive strategy using 7 men in front of goal and putting 3 upfront which blocked every move of Senegal in the first half.

Ordinarily, Senegal without their talisman goal scorer, Sadio Mane is no match to Netherland. Ranked 8 in the world, Netherlands had 11 appearances with three runners up in 1974; 1978 and 2010. They made Bronze in 2014; 4th in 1998 and quarterfinal in 1994.

Senegal ranked 18th had 3 appearances and went to equal Ghana’s quarterfinal record in 2002 at Japan. That year, Senegal beat France 1-0 in the group games.

Senegal can still redeem the time if she can beat hosts Qatar on Thursday 25th at 8pm; a loss by Qatar on Thursday means they are out of the tournament. Netherlands will play Ecuador at 5pm on Thursday.

Four matches will be played today, Tuesday. At 11:00 am Group C match former Champions, Argentina versus Saudi Arabia; At 2pm Denmark will face Tunisia in group D match; Mexico will face Poland at 5pm also group C while the last Group D match between France and Australia is at 8pm.