Senegal go into Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against South Africa on a run of six successive victories and were the only side to qualify for the Nations Cup finals with a 100 percent record in the preliminaries. With a bevy of world stars‚ led by Liverpool’s Sadio Mane‚ they are on paper a formidable force and understandably the favourites in Group D of the African qualifiers for Russia 2018.They share the group with Bafana‚ Burkina Faso and the Cape Verde Islands.But it is not an immovable force that South Africa will be playing in Saturday’s match at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.It has been for years now that Senegal have looked a force to be reckoned with‚ but despite all the talent‚ they have not lived up to their potential.The current crop of players have had poor returns in recent Nations Cup tournaments and also in their bid to return to the World Cup finals. Senegal’s performance benchmark remains the 2002 World Cup‚ where they became only the second African country to reach the last eight.They sensationally upset defending champions France in the opening game in Seoul with the performance of world stars like Salif Diao‚ Papa Bouba Diop and El Hadji Diouf becoming world stars.Current Senegal coach Aliou Cisse was captain of the side and one of many who went on to play in the Premier League at the time when the English were discovering the talent and value of African footballers.Senegal have since battled to qualify again for the World Cup and proved under-whelming at the Nations Cup.For all their formidable array of stars‚ the recent years has been a litany of failure for the Lions of Teranga.Senegal have missed out on two of the last five Nations Cup tournaments. In 2012 they had been sensational in the qualifiers‚ with Moussa Sow scoring vital goals‚ but when they got to Equatorial Guinea‚ as one of the favourites‚ they proved a complete flop‚ losing all three games and being the first country to be eliminated.At the 2015 finals‚ they shared the same group with Bafana in Mongomo and came from behind to draw with Shakes Mashaba’s team in a 1-1 draw.But both Senegal and South Africa were eliminated as they finished behind Ghana and Algeria‚ who went on to the knockout phase.Senegal’s six wins in Group K of the 2017 Nations Cup qualifiers makes them the form team going into the upcoming finals in Gabon‚ but they are not among the immediate favourites because of their track record of flattering to deceive. - TMG Digital..