“Irrational decisions”. Senegalese newspapers have opened fire on one person after saying goodbye to the World Cup

Senegal’s exit from the last 32 of the 2026 World Cup sparked a storm of criticism in the Senegalese media after the Lions of Teranga squandered a two-goal lead until the 86th minute before conceding three goals against Belgium, the last of which was a penalty. a confrontation with a dramatic loss with a score of 2-3.

As monitored by the network RMC: Most French, Senegalese newspapers and websites saw what happened as not just a painful loss, but rather an unjustified collapse that placed the blame squarely on one person, namely national coach Pape Tiau, who they saw as the main responsible for missing out on a place in the round of 16.

120 minutes of stabbing

“Your-Your” newspaper titled its report with the phrase “How did the coach give Belgium a qualification certificate?”, referring to the fact that “on the 120th minute kick, only Pap Thiau’s signature is” and described what happened as a “brutal and incomprehensible scenario.”

The newspaper adds that what happened was “not a collapse of the players, but rather the result of disastrous human and tactical management.” throughout the meeting.

Lamin Kamara came on for Pape Gueye in the 66th minute and was booked just a minute later for a foul that resulted in the referee awarding the decisive penalty to Belgium in the dying minutes of extra time.

Read also:

Excessive self-confidence makes him ridiculed. The Senegal star’s announcement drags him into the fold after his World Cup bye.

A training nightmare

Le Soleil was no less harsh as he opted for the scathing title “A coaching nightmare”, emphasizing that Thiau’s decisions, particularly his substitutions, had thrown the team off balance and directly led to his exit from the tournament.

As for the newspaper Lobs, it published a shocking headline on its front page: “Papi… Goodbye”, accompanied by a picture of the Senegalese coach, and quoted the former coach of the Snipes Thiès club, Gausso Dram, who confirmed that Thiau “is no longer worthy to continue leading the technical staff of the national team”.

Disastrous choices

In the same context, Liberation Senegal described the incident as “extremely cruel”, stressing that the coach made “disastrous and tragic choices” that contributed to the collapse of the team in the final minutes.

Other newspapers also held the coach responsible for the exclusion, as “Walfe Quotidien” wrote about “Pape Thiaw’s technical error” and “En Kate” simply asked:

For its part, the Weo Sport website confirmed that the scenario was very painful for the players, but at the same time stressed that “the biggest responsibility for this failure lies with the coach”, considering that the most obvious factor in the loss of victory was his technical decisions.

Getty Images:

Thiau is the first official

As for Cine News, it saw that Senegal had “only themselves to blame” but came back to confirm that Tiau was largely responsible for the exclusion, explaining that the team’s character had completely changed after the substitutions, unlike Belgium, whose substitutes managed to turn the tide of the match, while Senegal did not provide any substitutes.

Thiau, on the other hand, defended his decisions despite a wave of criticism, stressing that the technical staff had to make changes due to a number of players suffering from fatigue and physical problems. “We had to make substitutions because some players couldn’t continue playing because of fatigue.”

For his part, midfielder Habib Diarra, who left the pitch in the 73rd minute, refused to hold the coach accountable or engage in any debate, stressing that the players bear most of the responsibility and said: “When you are on the field, you have to sacrifice everything.