The Tarenga Lions of Senegal made history in the international friendly game against the Three Lions of England on Tuesday, June 10 2025 at the City Ground In Nottingham. A game that saw a host of spectators trooping in to witness such a great encounter as some players from the opposing teams were as well teammates at club level in England especially as Nico Jackson faced off against his Chelsea teammates Levi Colwill, Trevor Chalobah, Noni Madueke, Reece James and Cole Palmer whilst Ilyman Ndiaye and Gana Gueye met with Everton teammate, Jordan Pickford and also Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr meeting his friend, Eze Eberechie at the 30,000 capacity stadium.
From the blast of the whistle, the lions of Tarenga were the dominant side, taking the game to the Three Lions as they also retained the pressure whenever it mattered. They fought back in diverse ways until their efforts got rewarded with an early goal on the 7th minute when record goal scorer Harry Kane got the ball at the back of the net with a rebound after Senegal goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy pulled off a fine save following a perfectly placed shot from Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon.
The two teams locked horns and Senegal kept pushing so hard after their goal deficit and Pape Thiaw’s charges retained their dominance again at the expense of Thomas Tuchel’s men, outplaying and outwitting the one time world champions tactically.
On their home grounds, the Three Lions succumbed to their opponent’s dominance as they conceded the equalizer on the 40th minute with two English Premier League players combining to pull parity for Senegal; Nico Jackson found Ismaila Sarr on the edge of the 6-yard box following a long pass from the middle of the field, to square off the ball into the net to neutralize the game before the end of the first period.
In the second half, England tried so hard to keep the West African giants at bay but to no avail until the latter came up strong again on the 62nd minute, capitalizing on their absolute dominance to steal the lead through Habib Diarra who put the one time AFCON winners ahead in the game after captain Kalidou Koulibaly envisioned his run with a long pass as he received it perfectly and slotted it in between the legs of Dean Henderson. The Strasbourg midfielder has now scored four goals for the Tarenga Lions since making his debut in March 2024.
With a one goal advantage and Senegal looking to make history as the first African country to defeat England, the Tarenga Lions never relented as they kept pushing with immense determination and intense pressure on their quest to etching their names in history books.
On the 84th minute mark, Jude Bellingham scored what appeared to have been the most sought-after equalizer for the Three Lions but VAR ruled the goal as null after a review was made, citing that Levi Colwill made contact with the ball with his hand in the build up to the goal— a very disappointing and heartbreaking moment for the English fans at the City Grounds in Nottingham.
The stregth of Pape Thiaw’s men superseded that of Thomas Tuchel’s as the West African side hit the final nail on the coffin with a stunning goal from number 10 shirted man, Cheikh Sabaly squared off a sublime cross from AS Monaco man Lamine Camara, who had led the counter attack from the halfway line through to the 18-yard box to find Metz attacker, Sabaly.
The game ended 1-3 in favor of Pape Thiaw’s men who made history as the first and only African country to beat England after the latter had already gone unbeaten in other 21 games against African countries.
To put the icing on the cake, Senegal’s U18 team played out in a friendly match against Argentina U18 and won 3-1 also against the South American side.
Tuesday, June 10 becomes a memorable day in the history of Senegal football after the triumph over England and Argentina.
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