JAKARTA The captain of the Senegal national team Kalidou Koulibaly revealed that his country has the goal of becoming the first country from Africa to win the World Cup.
In the history of the most prestigious competition, no country from Africa has made it past the quarter-finals. Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and most recently Ghana (2010), all eliminated in the top eight.
"African countries lack confidence and awareness that they can actually win the World Cup," the 31-year-old told BBC Sport Africa.
"I think it's time for one of the African countries to win the World Cup, because we are a very talented continent. We have great players," he added.
This year's World Cup starts on November 20 in Qatar. Hosts Qatar will face Ecuador in Group A and Senegal starting their campaign, in the same group against the Netherlands the following day.
Koulibaly, who plays regularly in the English Premier League, said that African representatives need to think bigger than just reaching the knock-out phase.
"We think that going through the group stage is a good thing, but we have to set a higher goal for ourselves," he said.
"I don't think the French team or the England team are happy to qualify from the group stage. They want to go any further. We have to have the same mindset. That's what I tried to bring to Senegal," he added.
Senegal came to Qatar later this year with good capital. Apart from being strengthened by Koulibaly, the team nicknamed the Lion from Teranga will also be strengthened by former Liverpool star, Sadio Mane.
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