Captain and England supersub Jarrod Bowen is not the only West Ham United star who secured a place in the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday night.
Bowen provided his first-ever Three Lions assist at the 19th time of asking during that 5-0 dismantling of Latvia. Having already made quite the impression off the bench as Thomas Tuchel’s suddenly free-scoring England cruised past neighbours Wales at Wembley, the West Ham skipper became ‘the perfect example’ of Thomas Tuchel’s high-pressing demands in Riga.
Bowen snatched back possession on the halfway line, turning defence into attack in an instant as Ebere Eze swept home.
There would be no assist for El Hadji Malick Diouf as Senegal produced a thumping victory of their own, however.
The West Ham United left-back is on track to become only the third to hit double-figures in a Premier League season this side of the Millenium, after Bowen and Paolo di Canio, but his wait for a first international assist goes on.
Though while 20-year-old Diouf represents an exciting future for Senegalese football, it was one of the nation’s old heads who set the Lions of Teranga on their way to a 4-0 crushing of Mauritanie.
El Hadji Malick Diouf joins West Ham United captain Jarrod Bowen at the 2026 World Cup
Sadio Mane, the Liverpool icon now playing in Saudi Arabia aged 33, rolled back the years with a curling free-kick to break Mauritanie’s resistance on the stroke of half-time.
That, like Anthony Gordon’s 26th minute opener against Latvia, would prove to be something of a bursting-of-the-dam moment. Senegal would rattle in a further three goals in a joyous second-half, through Mane [again], Everton schemer Iliman Ndiaye and another veteran forward in Metz’s Habib Diallo.
But while the 2026 World Cup may be something of a farewell to the international stage for Mane and co, Malick Diouf is only just getting started.
“Two years ago, I would never have imagined playing in a World Cup match!” says a man who only arrived in Europe, via Norwegian outfit Tromso, two months after England knocked Senegal out of the 2022 edition in Qatar.
“We had to suffer for it, [but] that’s it! It was a very good match. I think we finished well, that’s how it is. Very happy because we needed to score, and the leaders did it.
“So, well, that’s it!”
Diouf said his ‘dream’ was to represent Senegal on the world stage
Though Mane, Idrissa Gueye, Kalidou Koulibaly and co are very much in the autumns of their international careers, Diouf headlines a new generation of Senegalese talent. The former Slavia Prague starlet is actually the youngest member of the current Lions of Teranga squad.
For all his swashbuckling excellence at the Czech champions last season, Diouf earned that £19 million move to West Ham on the back of his outstanding performance against Thomas Tuchel’s England back in June.
Diouf had Bukayo Saka ‘in hell’ on that Nottingham night as Senegal became the first African team ever to beat the Three Lions.
“I’m really young, and I know it’s a massive privilege to represent my country,” Dakar-born Diouf told the official West Ham website recently. “I love the Senegalese people! They are beautiful, and in the national team we have a lot of good players in every position.
“We have a lot of players on the left side that can play very well, and we are in the top 18 [in the FIFA World Rankings] right now. We are a good team and a very good nation.
“It would mean everything [to play at the World Cup]. This was the dream.
“We need this because we have a lot of players who have not played at the World Cup, and we’ve also got players who have also played at two, and this would be their third. So, I think we are all looking forward to hopefully securing qualification.”
