All eyes on Mane as Teranga lions battle Blue Sharks

Senegal international and Liverpool forward Sadio Mane will be having a lot on his shoulders when Teranga Lions file out against Cape Verde today at the  Stade Omnisports de Bafoussam.

The 2019 finalists have not really been super in their outings in Cameroon contrary to expectations.

It took Sadio Mane’s 97th minute penalty to see off Zimbabwe in their opener which was followed by draws against Guinea and Malawi matches where some had predicted Teranga lions will earn clear win citing experience and pedigree.

However they were at least lucky not to have crashed out in the group stage like Algeria who denied them the trophy by whiskers in Egypt.

Thus hitting the knockout is another opportunity for Senegal to attempt to forge ahead and perhaps attempt to get to the final like they did in Egypt.

That is not to down play the steam of Blue Sharks would be hoping to break their knockout stage jinx in two appearances.

Holding host Cameroon to a 1-1 draw in the group stage is an indication that the Blue sharks can be resilient and knowing that knockout stage means putting every arsenal you have in the armory could make the Sharks up their game today thus giving the Teranga lions some headache to worry about.

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One thing going for Senegal at the moment however is that they are yet to concede a goal and boast of a relatively good defensive line that has  Abdou Diallo, Kalidou Koulibaly with Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy in goal, the worst they could get is a draw while hoping that penalty shootout would go in their favour.

Certainly however, Mane would prefer to earn a clear win and move into the quarters which can be dubbed progressive in their quest to erase the perennial underachiever’s tag having not won the title in 15 appearances.