--- title: Senegal Coach Aliou Cissé's World Cup Reaction Becomes Meme description: Senegal's World Cup coach, Aliou Cissé has become an icon both on and off the field for his emphatic reactions to their game against Poland. canonical: https://time.com/5317154/senegal-coach-world-cup/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-20T16:27:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:29.225Z og:title: Senegal Coach Aliou Cissé's World Cup Reaction Becomes Meme og:description: Aliou Cissé, an icon on the field and online og:url: https://time.com/5317154/senegal-coach-world-cup/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta18877b715f871a6/69893373929fadc048bf0ded/senegal-world-cup-coach-aliou-cisse-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Poland v Senegal: Group H - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senegal Coach Aliou Cissé's World Cup Reaction Becomes Meme twitter:description: Aliou Cissé, an icon on the field and online twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta18877b715f871a6/69893373929fadc048bf0ded/senegal-world-cup-coach-aliou-cisse-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senegal Coach's Fist-Pumping Celebration Meme Is a Real World Cup Highlight  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 20, 2018 4:27 PM UTC  MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JUNE 19: Aliou Cisse, Head coach of Senegal celebrates after the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group H match between Poland and Senegal at Spartak Stadium on June 19, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Michael Regan - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images) MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JUNE 19: Aliou Cisse, Head coach of Senegal celebrates after the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group H match between Poland and Senegal at Spartak Stadium on June 19, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Michael Regan - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)Michael Regan - FIFA—FIFA via Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 20, 2018 4:27 PM UTC The [2018 World Cup](http://time.com/5243280/2018-world-cup-when-where/) in Russia has had plenty of memorable moments so far — after all, who can forget the [Japanese fans who cleaned up the litter at the stadium after their team’s stunning win](http://time.com/5316905/world-cup-japan-clean-trash/)?— but one of the highlights was Senegal’s first [win of World Cup](http://time.com/5314646/fifa-world-cup-2018-russia-shocks-surprises/) against Poland on Tuesday night, a victory that was celebrated heartily by Senegal’s coach, Aliou Cissé. Cissé, a former English Premier League player who is the World Cup’s youngest coach and the only black coach at this year’s tournament, not only skillfully coached his team, representing West Africa’s Republic of Senegal, to an upset of FIFA’s No. 8 ranked Poland, but captured the hearts of the Internet with his emphatic fist pumps, hand motions, and earnest facial expressions. His fist pump, in particular, was ready fodder for the Internet, who happily turned the motion into a GIF that went viral. > [](https://twitter.com/NutmegRadio/status/1009111359244656640) As might be expected, it wasn’t long before the inspiring moment became a meme. > [](https://twitter.com/mikeytraynor/status/1009204374365724675) > [](https://twitter.com/DanMolloyTV/status/1009117439198728192) > [](https://twitter.com/tweetdeguerre/status/1009119992133050368) > [](https://twitter.com/Nanjala1/status/1009309389830881280) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5317154/senegal-coach-world-cup/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5317154/senegal-coach-world-cup/"},"headline":"Senegal Coach's Fist-Pumping Celebration Meme Is a Real World Cup Highlight","datePublished":"2018-06-20T16:27:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:29.225Z","description":"Aliou Cissé, an icon on the field and online","url":"https://time.com/5317154/senegal-coach-world-cup/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta18877b715f871a6/69893373929fadc048bf0ded/senegal-world-cup-coach-aliou-cisse-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta18877b715f871a6/69893373929fadc048bf0ded/senegal-world-cup-coach-aliou-cisse-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Poland v Senegal: Group H - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia","caption":"Poland v Senegal: Group H - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia","creditText":"Michael Regan - FIFA—FIFA via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5317154/senegal-coach-world-cup/","name":"Senegal Coach's Fist-Pumping Celebration Meme Is a Real World Cup Highlight"}}]}] ```