“Champions of Africa. What a match! What a team! You did it. A wonderful moment for our national pride. Congratulations to our heroes”, wrote president Macky Sall and announced that today – Senegalese will celebrate a national holiday. Paid leave for the entire nation.Further north, in France, local media made a funny comment which carries more than a speck of truth in it. They wrote that France was the first European country to win the Africa Cup of Nations – because of the 11 players from the starting 11 Senegalese in the final, as many as seven were born in France. Four played for French national youth teams, and five are still members of French clubs. The last three were brought in by coach Aliou Cissé only last year when three players with French passports became members of the Senegalese national team: Abdou Diallo, Bouna Sarr and Nampalys Mendy.##EDITORS_CHOICE##But Sadio Mane once made a remark that explained the whole situation beautifully.”You can say, ‘I don’t know where I’m going.’ But you can’t say, “I don’t know where I come from. You always have to think about those who raised you.”Liverpool star did not leave it all with words – Mane has already financed the construction of a new school, a new hospital and a new mosque in his hometown of Bambali, 80 kilometers from Dakar. His extended family, up to some 45 members, now all live together in the villa he built for them – even though they were essentially against his career.They did not believe that he would succeed, they forced him to go and work in the fields, so in 2009, Mane decided to run away from home and go to a practice session in Dakar. He hid his sports bag in the tall grass in front of the house and told only his best friend about the plan. He was caught in the act, prevented from leaving, but he fought for permission to leave on the condition that he finishes that school year successfully. When he did that, his career could finally start.Sadio Mane was named the best player of the tournament in Cameroon.”His inner strength comes not only from his character but also from his origin, the journey he went through. For Senegalese, success is directly related to family. You have to do everything for them, Europeans cannot understand that. It’s a source of motivation that we don’t have.” FourFourTwo quoted Olivier Perrin, Mane’s coach at Metz.Senegal celebrating! Maiden AFCON title causes an eruption in the country’s capitalThe French club is the first European step for many Senegalese children, who come to Metz through the Generation Foot Club. Ismaila Sarr, for example, also ‘grew up’ there, and he has contributed to the AFCON title immensely since he joined the team in the quarterfinals, after recovering from an injury.But let’s go back to the family and its significance for Senegalese. Perhaps the best example is captain Kalidou Koulibaly. His father worked seven days a week in a textile factory for five years and never took a day off, all in order to bring his wife to France. Kalidou was born there, in a mixed town of Saint-Pierre de Vosges where there were Africans, Arabs, Muslims, Christians… He always pointed out that he learned there that all people are equal.”All the children played football barefoot and that made me very nervous, I guess. My mother says that I begged her to go to the store to buy sneakers for everyone. In the end, she said to me: ‘Kalidou, take your shoes off and play barefoot’. So it was”.Interestingly, Kalidou also went through Metz school, although he was born in France, but was let go as a 15-year-old because he was too withdrawn and at that age still below the expectations of the people at the club. They brought him back three years later and the rest is history.The third star of the Senegalese national team also had problems. The hero from the showpiece penalty series, goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, another football player born in France, even thought of giving up football. As a 22-year-old, after parting with third division side Cherbourg, he spent the whole season without a club. His wife was expecting their first child, and they lived on welfare and benefits for the unemployed.”If someone had told me then that I would end up here, I would not have listened to him. I really doubted I would continue at all.”, said Mendy.Wed 19:30: (9.00) Al Hilal (5.70) Chelsea (1.30)There was a call-up for the B team of Olympique de Marseille… A year later, he earns around 3.5 million USD per season at Chelsea.A rival in the Premier League but a teammate in the national team, Nampalys Mendy, midfielder of Leicester City, is another player with an interesting story. His rise came with Monaco after Didier Christophe noticed him while playing for Toulon as a 15-year-old. And he was not considered particularly talented.”The coaches in Toulon told me that he was only there to fill in the number in training. Technically, he was disastrous. But if he played against other teams – he would shine. His positioning, intelligence, understanding of the game testified that he has huge potential.”Others also had problems while growing up. Keita Balde (mostly a substitute in Senegal’s last games of AFCON) – although he was considered a great talent, was almost expelled from Barcelona because at the age of 15 he put ice on one of his La Masia teammates’ beds.Cheikh Kouyate’s first club in Europe, RWDM Brussels, did not pay him his salaries for months, and now the Crystal Palace player had to meet them in court to seek justice.Boulaye Dia, now a Villarreal player, was an amateur four years ago and worked as an electrician because his father fell ill, so Boulaye had to take care of his family.AFCON 2021: History setting Aliou Cisse wins best manager awardFinally, there is the national team coach Aliou Cisse. Some say the culprit of Senegal’s first AFCON final when his generation lost to Cameroon with El Hadji Diouf, Papa Buba Diop and others. Back then, in the penalty shootout, it was Cisse who missed the decisive penalty. Last night, he was probably the happiest man in the stadium.It is true that the path to the finals has never been easier – in the group Senegal played against Zimbabwe, Guinea and Malawi. Lions of Teranga then met Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso in the knockout stages. On the other end, Egypt had Nigeria in the group, followed by Morocco and Cameroon. But who cares? That will be forgotten – only the first continental trophy after two lost finals is remembered.Now is the time for Senegalese to start telling their tale. There is more than enough for them to start with.
