Senegal coach Aliou Cisse, who captained Senegal at Korea/Japan 2002 in their first Fifa World Cup appearance, is leading his nation into a second global tournament as a manager.
According to Fifa.com, Cisse would have been relying on the talent of Sadio Mane, one of the world’s most devastating attacking players, to spark Senegal into a better performance than their Russia 2018 campaign and progress from the Group Stage, but that was called into doubt after the announcement of the Bayern Munich forward’s fibula injury.
However, Mane has passed the test and has been named in Cisse’s 26-man squad for Qatar 2022. Also on the squad list is Abdou Diallo, who has also recently missed game time due to injury, Edouard Mendy, Chelsea’s centre-back, Kalidou Koulibaly and Idrissa Gana Gueye.
Notable absentees is by Saliou Cisse, currently a free agent who gives his spot on the left side of defence to Fode Ballo-Toure or Ismail Jakobs.
The Lions of Teranga will start their campaign in Group A when they face Netherlands on November 21, before playing Qatar and Ecuador.
“We are monitoring the situation and have sent one of our doctors to assess him,” Senegal coach Aliou Cisse told a media briefing in Dakar on Friday.
“On Thursday, Sadio spent the whole day in Munich before travelling to Austria for further tests.
“The good news is that he does not need an operation. We want the situation to evolve in two to three weeks. I don’t want to rule him out.”
According to BBC, Koulibaly will captain the squad, which includes Mendy and Nottingham Forest midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate.
Cisse will also have concerns over the fitness of Koulibaly’s regular centre-back partner Diallo, who suffered a knee injury in the warm-up for RB Leipzig on Wednesday and was withdrawn from the starting XI to face Freiburg. – Sports Reporter
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