Senegal – 2018

Senegal, you won the hearts of the world in the opening round! With your glorious warm-ups, a magnanimous coach, fans cleaning up after themselves, not to mention, stellar play-making, you quite quickly became the team so many were cheering for. So humble, I had difficulty finding you anywhere. This is not Senegal World Cup Toronto, but it’s all I found in my 6 hours searching for them and dozens of hours reaching out to them.

Date: June 24, 2018
Score of game: Japan 2, Senegal 2
Location: Cafe Diplomatico, 594 College St, Toronto, ON
Estimated number of fans at location: 1

Luckily, I found this one fan who bought a Senegal hat before watching the game versus Japan. Lucky because I have a photo of a Senegal hat. He wasn’t from Senegal and wasn’t a diehard fan of Senegal and hadn’t even been there, so I don’t feel it should count. My goal with this project is to be in the room/bar/outdoor venue that matters most in the city for fans of a particular country. While I’m not always in the absolute best room, I’m usually in the top 3.

Despite what I thought were three really solid leads, including the Senegalese Association of Ontario, with promises of delivering the locations of Senegal fans, it was a hallow pursuit. Frustrating, because they had some magical moments this year. Hopefully, they make it again in 2022 and I can get some new leads.

Again, this is not Senegal World Cup Toronto, but instead, my first fail. I don’t count North Korea as a fail, the only other country I missed. Oh well.