Senegal suna zuwa FIFA World Cup 2026 suna ɗauke da ɗaya daga cikin labaran da ba a taɓa ganin irinsu ba a tarihin ƙwallon ƙafa na duniya — lokacin da aka ci nasara, sannan aka kwace taken, sannan aka kai ƙara a gaban kotun wasanni mafi girma a duniya.
Ƙungiyar Pape Thiaw ta lashe Africa Cup of Nations a watan Janairu ta hanyar doke Morocco a yanayi mai ban mamaki. Alkalin wasa Jean-Jacques Ndala ya ba da bugun fenareti a lokacin ƙarin minti bayan bitar VAR kan kallon Malick Diouf akan Brahim Diaz, wanda ya sa Thiaw ya ba da umurnin ƙungiyarsa ta bar filin. An yi jira na minti 16 kafin Sadio Mané ya jagoranci ƙungiyar dawowa. Sannan Édouard Mendy ya tsare bugun fenareti na Diaz, kuma Pape Gueye ya ci burin nasara a ƙarin lokaci.
Watanni biyu bayan haka, hukumar ƙara ta CAF ta kwace taken AFCON daga Senegal — ko da yake shari'ar tana jiran a ji a gaban Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Wannan hukunci bai hana ƙungiyar yin bikin da kofin a gaban wasa na abokantaka da Peru ba, kuma a idon mutanen ƙasar, taken nasu ne.
AFCON a matsayin bpróva
A ga tsohon ɗan wasan gaba El Hadji Diouf, wannan tafiya mai cike da turɗaɗe zuwa taken ita ce gwajin da Senegal ke buƙata kafin wannan bazara. Yana magana da Sky Sports ta musamman a taron ƙaddamar da rigar 'Rolling Nations' ta PUMA a New York, Diouf ya kasance a fili game da manufofin ƙasarsa.
"AFCON was the warm-up for the World Cup. We know we're so good," in ji shi. "People know Senegal is not just a good team — it's an institution of football now."
Diouf ya nuna haɗin kai da ke ɗaure ƙungiyar, yana ambaton Sadio Mané, Édouard Mendy, da Kalidou Koulibaly a matsayin alamun ɗiyan wata shekara da ke ɗauke da fatan dukan nahiyar. "Suna wasa ba don Senegal kaɗai ba, suna wasa don dukan nahiyar sati bayan sati," in ji shi.
Manufar wannan bazara tana a bayyane. "A wannan Kofin Duniya, muna so mu kai mataki na hudu," Diouf ya bayyana. "Muna da 'yan wasa manyan, muna da ƙungiya mai kyau, kuma mun ci Africa Cup of Nations."
France karo na biyu — da echoes na 2002
Senegal za su fara yaƙin neman zaɓe a Rukuni I da France a ranar 17 ga Yuni, wasa mai ɗauke da nauyin tarihi mai girma. A shekarar 2002, a farkon shigowa a gasar Kofin Duniya, Senegal sun ba France — masu riƙe da taken a lokacin — mamaki da nasara ta 1-0 a matakin ƙungiyoyi — lokacin da Diouf, wanda ya buga wannan wasan, har yanzu ke tunawa da shi a fili.
"Mun doke mafi kyawun ƙungiyar duniya — tare da Zinedine Zidane, Bixente Lizarazu, Fabian Barthez," ya tuna. "Nasara akan manyan ƙungiyoyi ba koyaushe ta shafi ƙwarewa ba. Tana game da duk abin da ke fitowa daga zuciyarka."
Diouf ya haɗa nasarar 2002 da sakamakon kwanan nan: Senegal sun doke England da 3-1 a Wembley a wasa na abokantaka a watan Yuni na shekarar da ta gabata, sannan suka biyo baya da nasara ta 2-0 a wajen gida kan Brazil — sakamakon da ya yi imanin ya tabbatar da cewa ƙungiyar Thiaw na iya doke kowa.
"Idan ka doke Brazil, idan ka doke England a Ingila, za ka iya doke kowane ƙungiya," in ji Diouf. "Duk abin ya dogara ne akan imani."
Rukuni I kuma yana ɗauke da Norway, waɗanda Diouf ke girmama amma ba ya tsoronsu, tare da Iraq. Tunaninsa shi ne cewa wannan salon wasa mai ɗauri da riƙo da ƙwallon da ya kai Senegal zuwa taken AFCON zai yi musu hidima a Arewacin Amurka.
Gina daga ciki
Diouf kuma ya yi tunani kan canjin tsari a bayan tazartawar Senegal. Ya ba da haske kan zuba jari na ƙasar a makarantun ƙananan 'yan wasa, yana mai cewa mafi yawan ƙungiyar ta yanzu sun fito daga shirin bunƙasa na gida kuma sun taka leda tare tsawon fiye da shekaru 15.
"Muna aiki a bayan fage kan makarantun," in ji shi. "A yau, ka dubi ƙungiyar ƙasar Senegal — yawancin yaran suna fitowa ne daga Senegal, daga makarantun Senegal."
Ya ƙare da ƙalubale da ya miƙa wa ƙungiyar — da kuma nahiyar baki ɗaya. "Me ya hana mu zama ƙungiyar Afirka ta farko da ta isa wasan karshe na Kofin Duniya? Idan suka sa hakan a zuciyarsu, za su iya cimma shi."
