OPINION | When Lions were needed Senegal’s Cissé and Koulibaly became cats

For all his brave and inspiring pre-World Cup talk about the need for Africa to start dreaming much bigger than just progression past the group phase, Kalidou Koulibaly made a serious hash of helping Senegal walk the talk.

The Lions of Teranga captain was as leaky as a sieve in their 3-0 defeat to England in their round of 16 clash Sunday night.

Of course the Chelsea defender was not solely culpable for the thrashing that saw the Three Lions' impeccable record of never having lost to an African team remain intact.

Coach Alilou Cissé should also bear some responsiblity for the loss for changing from the offensive 4-3-3 formation that saw Senegal overcome both Qatar and Ecuador to the more defensive 4-4-2 against England.

Granted the unavailability of quality and experienced midfielders Cheikhou Kouyate and Idrissa Gueye through injury and suspension - adding to the loss on the eve if the tournament of talismanic attacker Sadio Mané - did not make things any easier for the African champions. But in the knockout stages of a World Cup, playing it safe would never cut the mustard, particularly not against quality opposition such as England.

While they appeared to be holding their own for a significant part of the first half, it was more because England were not pressing Senegal enough at that stage. Gareth Southgate's men played conservatively in the initial half-hour with their passing far too slow to trouble their adversaries.

It was then that Senegal enjoyed a brief attacking spell that even saw them force a good save out of Jordan Pickford via a sweetly-struck shot by Boulaye Dia. That was all she wrote, though, as the scare seemed to jolt England into a higher hear.

They opened the scoring in their 3-0 victory via a break that exposed Senegal's poor shape at the back where captain Koulibaly - so solid and inspirational in the last two group matches - was almost always caught out of position. Many times the big defender was beaten to the ball and found himself having to attempt last-ditch tackles given his poor positioning.

He made the wrong run inside when staying put on the right would probably have made it harder for Jude Bellingham to get into the space he did to deliver that cross that found Jordan Henderson to open the scoring.

England's second goal was also courtesy of poor defensive work by Senegal, who had the numbers when their opposition launched the counterattack, only for Koulibaly and his teammates to run into wrong spaces.

Harry Kane is way too good a striker not to punish such, and he duly killed off the match as a contest just before half time.

Cissé's feeble attempt at turning things around with three changes after the break made no difference, and with group stage star Ismaila Sarr shackled by Kyle Walker on the wing you couldn't see how the African champions would find their way back into it.

Instead it was England who scored again via Bukayo Saka, Koulibaly once again failing to close down his man on the flank and Phil Foden delivering for the young striker to dink the ball over Édouard Mendy.

The Senegal captain had come out like a breath of fresh air with his pre-tournament statement that "we must stop believing getting past the first round is a great achievement - winning the World Cup is a great achievement".

For a while when he cajoled and defended strongly as the Lions of Teranga overcame both Qatar and Ecuador to book their place in the knockout stage, you felt the man was living up to his words.

But against England on Sunday, he and his fellow African champions were severely exposed. The match somewhat confirmed that in spite of having many players plying their trade in the top European league's - Senegal's starting lineup had five players from English Premier League clubs - Africa remains miles behind the world's top footballing nations in many respects.

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