Kalidou Koulibaly Makes Honest Admission After Senegal’s World Cup Loss to Norway
- Kalidou Koulibaly took responsibility after Senegal’s World Cup dreams became complicated after the loss to Norway
- The Vikings progressed to the knockout stage after their 3-2 win over the Teranga Lions in their second group game
- Senegal need a win against Iraq, multiple goals and the results in other groups to favour them to reach the next stage
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Kalidou Koulibaly has shared his thoughts about his performance during Senegal’s loss to Norway in their second 2026 FIFA World Cup Group I match.
Norway defeated Senegal 3-2 to seal their qualification to the knockout stage and leave the Teranga Lions with a mountain to climb if they want to reach the next round.
Source: Getty Images
Marcus Pedersen put the Vikings ahead at half-time. Erling Haaland and Ismaila Sarr had a back-and-forth of goals, and in the end, it went in Norway’s favour.
Senegal are not eliminated yet as they could still make it to the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams if they secure a big win over Iraq in their final group game.
Koulibaly takes responsibility after Senegal's loss
Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly committed two errors leading to goals during their loss to Norway, as he is becoming a defensive liability for the team.
He was substituted in that 72nd minute, and during his post-match interview, he took responsibility for his contribution to Senegal’s downfall.
“Top-level football is all about the details. The team that makes the fewest mistakes often wins. Today, I made a lot of mistakes,” Koulibaly said via SABC Sport.
“It's a real shame to lose a match like that. We know the level of the World Cup is very high, and we made too many mistakes to win this match.”
“No one has a guaranteed place. Everyone is at the team's disposal. The coach has the right to take me off. He saw that I wasn’t helping the team. That’s totally normal, it’s part of football. It didn’t go the way I wanted; you have to accept it,” he added about his substitution.
Nigerian football writer Osaze Ero admits that Koulibaly and those around him should help him as the national team respects him enough not to drop him when he is still active, but he should honourably walk away.
"The Senegalese national team will keep inviting him so far he is active, but at this point it is on him to respect himself and retire from the national team," he told Legit.ng.
"He offers close to nothing to the team again, the so-called leadership even becomes questionable with poor performances. How do you drive the mentality of the team when you as the leader is making errors costing the team?"
Head coach Pape Thiaw admits that the mistakes cost Senegal despite a warning before the match not to repeat mistakes as they did against France.
“I think that it was a difficult game for us against a very strong Norwegian side that put us into very difficult situations as they were very efficient,” said Thiaw, via Reuters.
Source: Getty Images
“We conceded goals at probably the worst time that we could have, just before half-time and then just after we came out for the second half.”
However, the former striker believes that it is too early to call his team a failure as they still have a strong chance of progressing to the next stage against Iraq.
Players who should retire after World Cup
Legit.ng previously analysed some top African players who should retire from international football after the 2026 FIFA World Cup in USA, Mexico and Canada.
Senegal’s old guard quartet of Sadio Mane, Kalidou Koulibaly, Édouard Mendy and Idrissa Gana Gueye were among the names listed.
Source: Legit.ng
