In 2002, the Senegalese national team performed a soccer miracle. And made the whole world fall in love with it.
The World Cups in Korea and Japan made the African boys stars: Diouf, Diop, Fadiga and Tony Silva had already crushed France in the first round. Then there were two draws against Denmark and Uruguay to reach the last eight.
All this with a great and high quality game. Add to that the wild charisma of the players and you can understand why people began to root for Senegal.
After getting past the Swedes, Bruno Metsu's team lost in the quarterfinals to another tournament sensation, Turkey. But that didn't upset the fans at all: the story had already been written.
A little bit about the sad thing: two of the heroes of that team - coach Metsu and the huge midfielder Diop are no longer alive. In loving memory.
