By Bankole Labode Uyo
Senegal’s Taranga Lions devour clawless 3 Lions
In a fierce International friendly match, Senegal made history on the 10th June 2025, becoming the first African country to defeat England in a competitive match after 1,59,000 matches the English team as played.
England came from a disappointing performance against Andorra in Catalonia, which exposed their vulnerability being lethargically tired, and complacent; So, the world was expecting the English team to demonstrate a show of mental toughness and togetherness as they played host to the Taranga Lions of Senegal at Nottingham Forest’s city ground stadium.
England started the match impressively as they took the lead at around the 6 minutes’ mark by their captain Harry Kane who tapped in from close range. As the match progressed Senegal started showings signs of comeback by taking more risks, pressing the ball higher up the pitch and causing a few defensive scares for England. The break-through moment for the Lions of Taranga came around the fortieth minute, when Ismaila Sarr restored parity with a beautiful effort converting it from a wonderful play by Everton’s Baroy Ndiaye. The second half started in a not too dissimilar fashion to the first half although the England improved a bit. However, it was Senegal’s Taranga Lions who landed the next blow with just one simple ball over the top which left the English players stranded out wide and Habib Diarra was on hand to fire home Senegal’s second of the night.
The complexion of this match could have been different if Antony Gorgon will have taken the golden chance for when the match was still 2-1 against them. Jude Bellingham thought he had grabbed England’s late equalized 4 minutes from time, but he was utterly bemused to see his goal being ruled out by the VAR owing to a hand ball in the build up by his teammates.
As England pushed to salvage a late equalizer on home soil Senegal capped off a brilliant evening when Cheikh Sabaly hammered home the winning goal making it 3 goals to 1. Not only was this a match settling third goal for the Africans but it also meant the Senegal have become the first team from Africa to defeat England since their first competitive match in November 1872.
Speaking on Talk Sport Thomas Tuchel the English Coach admitted to have slept little since England’s loss on Tuesday evening He said, “After a match that has to be put in to context, we used 21 players in 72 hours and we faced a very strong opponent who were ready to make history they had a clear target which is to beat England for the first time.”
In his own reaction following England’s shock loss veteran former premier league manager, Sam Alladyce said on Talk Sport “It is only a friendly and such criticism is a little bit misplaced.” A comment that might be viewed by many as an attempt to mask England’s very visible cracks in the wall.
Senegal has set a legacy in the football history. This will be a day that will forever remained to be talked about in football folklore not just around Africa but in all of the footballing realm.
Author Bankole Labode Oyou credits to talk Sport.
