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England meet Senegal on Sunday in the World Cup round of 16 as the Three Lions look to fend off the talented African team and advance to the quarterfinals. Senegal might be the champions of Africa but England, the tournament’s joint-highest scorers with nine goals from three games, go into the tie as strong favorites to advance. Gareth Southgate has selection dilemmas but for the most part they are the sort a manager relishes: which in form forward to select, does he trust youthful vigor or proven experience in midfield.
There are questions aplenty for Senegal too but they come in the form of selection challenges for Aliou Cisse, who will be without Idrissa Gueye due to suspension and possibly Cheikhou Kouyate as well.
Here is how you can watch the match and what you need to know:
How to watch and odds
Date: Sunday, Dec. 4 England vs. Senegal
Storylines
England: The makeup of those playing off Harry Kane is the biggest question hanging over Southgate, the joy of it being that there is not particularly a wrong answer. Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka all have goals in this tournament whilst Raheem Sterling has delivered for his country on the tournament stage. Jack Grealish has settled into something of a closer role whilst James Maddison has recovered his fitness.
As for Kane, he is yet to score but has three assists to his name. Having won the Golden Boot four years ago by bullying group stage opponents, where he scored five of his six goals, he is ready to take a different approach.
“It probably goes back to 2018. In the World Cup, I felt like, just from a physical and maybe mental side of things, we started the tournament great, I started the tournament with loads of goals, used a lot of energy and as the tournament went on, I felt like my performances dipped in the latter stages,” Kane said.
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Senegal: Questions have been raised as to the status of the coach, Cisse, who missed his press conference on Friday due to illness.
“He has been sick for a couple of days now,” said his assistant Regis Bogaert. “He let us take charge of training yesterday, obviously with his instructions we got across to the players.
“Hopefully [Sunday] he will be able to come and be on the bench with the players. I am sure that … he will be there with the team.”
The absence of Gueye might be a big miss for a team that has already had to labor without the talismanic Sadio Mane in this tournament but they will feel that Ismaila Sarr and Amath Ndiaye have enough in their locker to test England on the flanks.
Prediction
Expect Senegal to keep their defense tight and challenge England to break them down. It may take a while but eventually, the Three Lions should do so. Pick: England 1, Senegal 0