“Despite winning the Africa Cup of Nations title, we are still hungry for more victories. Senegal players do not need motivation ahead of the game as we are hungry for more victories,” Cisse told the pre-game news conference on Thursday.

Egypt will play Senegal in a two-legged tie with the winner qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in November.

“We know the game against Egypt will be difficult and it is another final. Even before our Africa Cup final we knew we had three finals ahead of us against Egypt because the playoffs draw had been made,” Cisse added.

Egypt, who lost to Senegal on penalties in the African Nations Cup final on 6 February, will host the Lions of Teranga for the first leg of the qualifying playoff on 25 March at Cairo International Stadium, while the second leg match will be held four days later at Stade Olympique de Diamniadio Stadium in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

“There has been almost two months since our last meeting and we benefited [from the time] to work on our weak points. We have to be smart against Egypt and avoid mistakes to win,” Cisse added.

The Lions of Teranga arrived in Cairo on Wednesday after finishing their closed camp in Morocco as part of preparations for the games.

Senegal reached the FIFA World Cup finals two times in 2002 and 2018, while Egypt made it to the prestigious tournament three times in 1934, 1990 and 2018.

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