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Bruno Metsu’s managerial CV may not be the most glamorous in the world, but the former Lille and Sedan boss has managed to build on Schnittger’s foundations and guided Senegal to the World Cup Finals for the first time.

They also came within one kick of winning the African Cup of Nations in February 2002, eventually falling 3-2 on penalties to Cameroon.

He has developed a robust, defensively compact team that plays to each player’s strengths – with defensive solidity at one end, and enough flair to score a few at the other.

But Metsu is remaining affably realistic. He understands that his players, most of whom play in the French Premiere Division, will only continue to improve as a unit by facing top-class opposition.

Let’s hope Bruno enjoys his first experience of a World Cup Finals – we don’t want him tearing that Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen look to shreds now, do we?

Despite raising a few eyebrows on the way to topping their qualification group, the Lions of Teranga will be chuffed to bits if they can emulate Cameroon’s success of twelve years ago. It’s their first ever appearance on the world stage, and they face a baptism of fire against the reigning World Champions.

Apart from the political issues in a match involving France and a former French colony - the French-based Senegalese players will especially feel they have everything to prove, and that’s nearly all of them.

Bruno Metsu rarely deviated from a 4-3-2-1 formation as Senegal reached the final of the African Nations Cup earlier this year. Expect eight men behind the ball as soon as Senegal lose possession, with two wide forwards and a central striker - usually El Hadj Diouf - always on the lookout for a quick counter-attack.

Goalkeeper Tony Sylva was voted goalkeeper of the tournament, only conceding one goal in the six games they played in Mali. He’s a loyal second-choice keeper at Monaco who commands his area well, and deserves more than his six starts in seven seasons for Didier Deschamps’ team.

The defence is marshalled by the experienced Aliou Cisse. The former Paris St. Germain player had a trial with West Ham last season, but eventually joined Montpellier. The skipper will be desperate to atone for his decisive penalty miss that handed Cameroon the victory in the Cup of Nations final.

Other defenders to watch out for include the right-sided Ferdinand Coly of Lens, whose flowing dreadlocks make him an easy player to identify, and Sochaux’s stylish left-back Omar Daf.

The midfielders all play quite deep – with Lens’ Pape Sarr on the right-hand-side of a central trio. Salif Diao is a strong-running box-to-box player who came through the ranks at Monaco before moving to Sedan in 2000, while left-sided Pape Bouba Diop is another powerful player, and another member of the Lens contingent.

The team’s playmaker is Khalilou Fadiga – a former Bruges forward who now plays for Auxerre. The 27-year-old is very left footed, and likes dropping deep and wide to find some space. Sedan’s Henri Camara is a mobile right-sided forward who always runs into great positions – but disappointingly there’s no end product all-too-often.

The central striking berth is usually taken by Lens frontman El Hadj Diouf (see below), who carries most of the country’s expectation on his shoulders.

El Hadj Diouf is a year younger than Michael Owen - the same age as Francis Jeffers and Bobby Zamora - and yet he has already been nominated for African Footballer of the Year award.

The livewire Lens frontman, who has plenty of power, pace and ball control up his sleeve, hit successive hat-tricks against Algeria and Namibia as the Lions of Teranga devoured through their qualification group - to reach the World Cup finals for the first time.

The striker struggled initially – scoring once in his first 40 games of domestic league football in France, but flourished after a move to Lens at the start of the 2000/01 season.

His predatory instincts in front of goal have since earnt him the nickname ‘Serial Killer’ – and after scoring 9 of his team’s 14 goals in the qualification round, few Senegalese fans will disagree.