DAKAR, SENEGAL –
Sadio Mane was included in Senegal’s World Cup squad on Friday as coach Aliou Cisse gambled on one of many world’s greatest forwards being match and prepared in time after injuring his decrease proper leg this week enjoying for Bayern Munich.
Cisse stated Senegal’s medical group hoped that Mane would wish a few week to recuperate from the harm he sustained on Tuesday in a league recreation in Germany and subsequently be prepared for Senegal’s opening recreation on the World Cup in opposition to the Netherlands on Nov. 21 — on paper the strongest group Senegal will face in Group A in Qatar.
But Cisse additionally raised the chance that Mane might not be match in time for the event, which might sprint the hopes of a nation that has come to depend on Mane delivering at massive moments.
“Sadio Mane is a key participant in our group. We will do all we will to have Sadio Mane (accessible),” Cisse stated on the Senegal squad announcement in Dakar that was dominated by whether or not Mane can be in or out.
“Losing Sadio Mane will not be one thing small for Senegal and African soccer. We need to anticipate in case he’s absent, however we nonetheless have time to see if he will probably be match or not,” Cisse stated. “I can not converse of his absence even when in my head I’ve to take this into consideration.”
Cisse stated Senegal had despatched its group physician to Munich to look at Mane’s harm and the “excellent news” was that he didn’t require surgical procedure. The preliminary analysis was that Mane can be out for round per week, Cisse stated.
But Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann sounded a extra pessimistic be aware later Friday.
“In common, an early return from an harm is all the time dangerous,” stated Nagelsmann, who urged Mane wants greater than per week.
“We’ll do one other follow-up examine in 10 days after which we’ll see how the therapeutic course of goes. Then there will be additional choices made,” Nagelsmann stated, with out giving extra element. “It’s apparent that Senegal would really like him to play. But if he is in ache, he cannot play. The medical issues are extra vital than the sporting ones. That’s the case with us and likewise with everybody else.”
Bayern had already stated that Mane will miss this weekend’s recreation in opposition to Schalke in the Bundesliga due to the harm however gave no definitive timeframe on his restoration.
Mane is the main focus of a Senegal group which gained its first African Cup of Nations title this 12 months and is rated by many as the very best African facet to ever go to a World Cup. It has real looking hopes of creating the quarterfinals and could also be Africa’s greatest likelihood but of getting a group attain the final 4 at a World Cup for the primary time.
The 30-year-old Mane has been very important for Senegal, scoring the penalty that gained the African Cup title in a shootout in opposition to Egypt in February. A month later, he additionally netted the profitable penalty in one other shootout that clinched Senegal a spot on the World Cup in Qatar in a playoff, once more beating Egypt. He not too long ago grew to become his nation’s all-time main scorer and completed second in this 12 months’s Ballon d’Or behind Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema.
The remainder of the squad was as anticipated, with Cisse maintaining religion with the center of the group that gained the African Cup in Cameroon for Senegal’s first main title.
That contains goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and central defender Kalidou Koulibaly, midfielders Idrissa Gueye, Nampalys Mendy and Cheikhou Kouyate, and forwards Ismaila Sarr and Famara Diedhiou.
There’s additionally AC Milan defender Fode Ballo-Toure and Tottenham midfielder Pape Matar Sarr, who’re new contenders for beginning spots.
News of Mane’s harm put his West African residence nation on tenterhooks. Even Senegal President Macky Sall despatched out a tweet hoping for Mane’s “speedy restoration” in time for the World Cup.
Senegal will play host Qatar, the Netherlands and Ecuador in its group, and Cisse stated his squad would proceed to organize as that they had deliberate, regardless of the state of affairs with Mane.
“For the moment, there is no such thing as a query of adjusting something,” Cisse stated.
World Cup guidelines enable groups to switch an injured participant as much as a day earlier than the group’s opening recreation, which means Senegal nonetheless has the choice of bringing in one other participant afterward if Mane would not recuperate in time. That would nonetheless be a serious blow for Senegalese hopes and the World Cup itself.
At 30, Mane might be at his peak proper now and should not get one other likelihood on the World Cup.
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Senegal:
Goalkeepers: Seny Dieng (Queens Park Rangers), Alfred Gomis (Rennes), Edouard Mendy (Chelsea)
Defenders: Pape Abou Cisse (Olympiacos), Abdou Diallo (Leipzig), Ismail Jakobs (Monaco), Kalidou Koulibaly (Chelsea), Formose Mendy (Amiens), Youssouf Sabaly (Real Betis), Fode Ballo-Toure (AC Milan)
Midfielders: Pathe Ciss (Rayo Vallecano), Krepin Diatta (Monaco), Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Pape Gueye (Marseille), Cheikhou Kouyate (Nottingham Forest), Mamadou Loum (Reading), Nampalys Mendy (Leicester), Moustapha Name (Pafos), Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham)
Forwards: Boulaye Dia (Salernitana), Bamba Dieng (Marseille), Nicolas Jackson (Villarreal), Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich), Iliman Ndiaye (Sheffield United), Ismaila Sarr (Watford), Famara Diedhiou (Alanyaspor)