Our Defeat To England Complicated Due To Absentees-Mendy

Edouard Mendy has acknowledged that the absence of Sadio Mane, Idrissa Gueye, and Cheikhou Kouyate significantly contributed to their 3-0 loss to England.

In Qatar, the 2022 Fifa World Cup Round of 16 match pitted the Lions of Teranga against the Three Lions without the three key players.

The injury Mane sustained while playing for Bundesliga powerhouse Bayern Munich had already disqualified him from the international competition in the Gulf country.

In the meantime, Gueye was suspended due to a history of receiving too many yellow cards, and Kouyate started for them in their Group A opener against the Netherlands before getting hurt.

“Dealing with defeat is not difficult. We came up against a better team than us, we have to accept that, England played at their best,” Mendy said as quoted by Fifa.com.

“They also had all their players at their disposal while we were missing some key players. We had to play without Sadio. We also had Idrissa [Gueye] and Cheikhou [Kouyate] missing.

“So, when you play against a team like that with key players missing, it is complicated.

“But throughout the tournament and throughout the year, we have shown that Senegal is more than 11 players, it is a group.

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“We will continue to move forward, to progress and we will come back stronger in the 2026 World Cup, God willing.”

Mendy had a disappointing tournament because he failed to keep a clean sheet in any of Senegal’s four games.

He made a mistake in the 3-0 loss to England, the 2-1 win over Ecuador, the 3-1 triumph over the hosts Qatar, and the 2-0 loss to the Netherlands.

He will rejoin Chelsea, who are getting ready to play Aston Villa in a friendly on December 11 at Al Nahyan Stadium. On December 27, the Blues will play again in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge against Bournemouth.