Match Day LIVE
Fifa World Cup ,2026
Game Week 1
France vs Senegal
Venue – New York, New Jersey Stadium.
Time- 8 pm
Date – June 16, 2026.
Le Bleus of France and the Lions of Terenga of Senegal lock horns in their opening game in this years Fifa World Cup 2026 at rhe New York, New Jersey stadium .
Seeking a sensational repeat of the 2002 World Cup against one of the tournaments favorites, France , the Senegalese , who last time out humbled a star studded Le Bleus team made up of Marseilly Deisailles and a host of other players in the team , 1-0 in their opening match , the Teranga Lions pit their wits again, against France in Tuesday s group opener in East Rutherford, New York , New Jersey.
The deposed Afircan champions stunned the french national team with a 1-0 victory in the 2002 edition of the World Cup , which marked the beginning of a swift end of a glorious year of the Le Bleus .
Apart from Spain , Le Bleus ranks as the second favorite s to lift this years World Cup, though there may be outsiders less favoured to win too like , Porttugal , England and possibly Germany .
Le Bleus has a large fan base followership to exorcise the demons of 2022 and send trailblazing head Coach , Didier Deschamps at the Summit of all World Cuo winning Managers twice he did, both as Coach as well as a player , making him the only mere mortal to have won the World Cup both as a Coach and a Manager .
After this Mundial , he vacate his position to Zinedine Zidane an edition which the former Water carrier in France will break the record of hugest winning streak of 14 matches in the World Cup.and a good group stage outijg this summer will see the Bleus biss over take the current best outing of wins in the Mundial of 15 matches held by Helmut Schon , lets keep our fingers crossed as events unfold .
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During this campaign, the Erling Halaands Norway will prove a hard but to crack against France , but the 2018: winners were near perfect in their qualifying campaign s after dropping only two points to reach the finals for the eighth time in a row , a d giving a good account of themselves in the last four edition of the Mundial out of seven outings though with some minor set back s to Ivory Coast in a friendly, 2-1 this sone how cast a doubt of their chances of being favorite s to lift the trophy, but a respite came with a massive victory over Northern Ireland , 3-1 , but from the look of things, i dont think that a win against Northern Ireland should be used a a major yardstick for a perfect team or as favorite because they will more still opposition as the Mundial despite , scoring multiple goals of nine goals in ten matches
The Lions of Teranga had a 100% record during the CAF qualifying campaign,, as they did not lose a match but that may not be a guarantee for their success in this Mundial , though it was not all that rosey during the warm friendly matches , they have qualified for the Mundial twice , following a 2022 exit in the last 16 stage by the Dutch that dismissed them
They won the Afcon 2021 edition in between those two World Cup campaign s, they can still claimvto have won the 2025 edition of Afcon after beating the Atlas Lions of Morocco in the finals in Rabat if the Court of Arbitration panel over turns the land nark rulibg by CAF that went in Moroccan s favour to have won the Afcon trophy,2025.
After their Nations Cup victory over Morocco they won their friendly games against Peru and Gambia but their preparation s were concluded cin dismal fashion with losses to host , USA, 3-2 as well as a barren draw with minnows Saudi Arabia 0-0 , hence ending their 17th game winning streak in all competitions, but they had their fifth clean sheet out of seven matches played , whose head Coach Papa Thiaw, was part of the Senegal s winning side that humbled the Le Bleus , 24’years ago in Seoul, though he wasxon the dugout that day , the late Papa Buba Diop struck the winning goal against France
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The Le Bleus is not badly hit with injury worries , both defenders Saliba and Jules Kounde are set for the Tuesday s night clash with the Lions of Teranga .
Contrary to reports that William back injury aggravated after the Champions league final , but is back to training.
The French goal tender Mike Maigna missed training on Saturday due to load management reasons an not for any injury.
The front quartet of Mbappe headlining with 56 goals as he appears for this mundial is also good and fit to play, with hope of sirpassing Giroud s all time highest goal scorer in 2022 Qiartar World Cup
Senegalese Sadio Mane , debutant in this World Cup is fit and good to start for the Lions after missing in 2022 World Cup in Quatar due to injury, and is ready to make a mess of the rear guard of the Le Bleus when he faces their goal tender , we never can tell how far Mane can go in this World Cup with his massive reputation spanning from the premeiership league to Gernan Bundesliga now in Saudi League .
There are some minor set back to the Senegalese line up , series of minor ones my be a major set back , Ndiaye , Cherif , Eveeton strong man Idrissa Gueye were absent and some could not complete training for reasons of aggravating their injuries ahead of todays clash .
Assane Diao also missed training last Saturday, we do hope he will get back for todays match .
Predictions
France have not been too convincing in their last five games where they scored and conceded with ease , but though have scored above three goals in their last nine matches, but that may not be a good yardstick to judge them , because friendly matches may not bring out the best from footballers as close to a tournament like the World Cup, wheer ewxh player will be avoiding injuries lest they miss out from thr final selection.
All the same , we know as rhey face an African opposition this night who have handed them with an embarrasing defeat in Match day One in 2022, they will not like history to repeat this Tuesdays clash.
The Lions of Teranga with their recent expliots in all departments of the game may also pull another surprise of an outright win against the European giants and their former colonila masters .,just like Ivory Coast humbled a star studded Ecudorian team 1-0 in their opener 48 hours ago .
We expect a good match from both teams .
France 2-1 Senegal Or 1-1
Happy Viewing ,Happy World Cup 2026 at New York , New Jersey.Rutherford stadium.
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We expect a vwey tough match full of pride and passion. The french team would not like history to repeat itself against the Lions of Teranga
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