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Senegal: 1- France: 0. The World Champions fall to the African Cinderellas! Euphoria rules in Senegal. The Cup is on.

I have just hung up the phone with Oumy in Dakkar. My first gesture after the game was to call her. I could not get her on her cell. ?All circuits are busy now?. I had to phone her land line. Communication is terrible; I guess everybody is now calling everybody.

Oumy has already lost her voice. In order to hear me, she had to close all windows and doors; our conversation was being drowned in the midst of the sounds of drums and klaxons that have invaded the streets of the Senegalese capital.

In Dakkar, on this sunny afternoon (it is still morning in America), ?c?est la liesse? (it?s party time), Oumy told me. No one, absolutely no one, went to work this morning, not even Oumy who is an architect (a graduate from G. Washington University). No need for an excuse, because there would be nobody to give the excuse to: the boss staid home.

Now everybody is in the streets celebrating. It is a moment frozen in euphoria for eternity. It is one of the great flashes of World Cup history. It is the shocker of all shockers. This victory is even more striking that it happened in full view of the entire world watching. In front of three billion spectators, the African Continent has voiced its pride and displayed its talents.

By history, the greatest upset in the history of the Cup has been the victory of the U.S team against England in 1950 (a goal of the Haitian-American Joe Gaetjens). Today, May 31, 2002, we have lived to see a greater one, the demise of the World Champions. Same scenario as Cameroon beating Argentina in the 1990 opener. Once the ball rolls, it is round for everyone.

It matters little if the Senegalese side (Fadiga, Riva, Cisse, Diop?) fails at its next games. They played this one with their heart and beat the World Champions. They beat the colons. Three billion people lived it live. Bravo Senegal!

http://www.jeanlouie.com/

(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Friday, May 31, 2002)