admin
DAKAR. — For the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations which will take place from January 9 to February 6 in Cameroon, former residents of academies based in Senegal including Diambars and Generation Foot occupy a prominent place in Senegal team who will play in Group B alongside Guinea, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Of the 27 called up by coach Aliou Cissé, eight players were trained by these two academies founded in the early 2000s, which corresponds to just over a quarter of those selected.
With Sadio Mané (Liverpool, England) as technical leader, Generation Foot academy, launched in 2000, can claim to have placed four of its former residents in Senegal team.
In addition to the Liverpool striker, we note the presence of Watford (England) striker Ismaila Sarr, Strasbourg (France) striker Habib Diallo and FC Metz (France) midfielder Pape Matar Sarr.
The latter was transferred to Tottenham (England) who loaned him to Grenats of France. He played the TotalEnergies Under-17 AFCON in 2019 in Tanzania and the World Cup the same year in Brazil.
The Diambars Academy, founded in 2003, also has four footballers in the squad announced last Friday by Cissé.
They are Idrissa Gana Gueye (PSG, France), Saliou Ciss (Nancy, France), Joseph Lopy (FC Sochaux, France) and Ahmadou Bamba Dieng (Marseille, France).
Since the launch of the league in 2009, the two clubs of Generation Foot and Diambars have won respectively two (2016 and 2018) and a title of champion of Senegal (2013).
He was neither a resident of Generation Foot nor of Diambars but Ibrahima Mbaye (Bologna, Italy) who will play his first AFCON, was trained in an academy called Etoile de Lusitana, a training center less famous than the first two mentioned.
Meanwhile, Senegalese Football Federation decided upon the agreement between FIFA and CAF, to give the European clubs still in competition the possibility of having their players summoned to the national team and to postpone the camp.
“The national team will go through their first phase of preparation at home from December 27 to January 4 before joining Bafoussam in their second half and AFCON participation,” the same statement said. In addition to the camp, the Teranga Lions had planned to play a friendly match against the home side during their stay in Kigali from December 31 to January 6.
Guinea and Senegal share Group B with Malawi and Zimbabwe.
And the Guinean Football Federation announced in a statement that they had recalled two reinforcements after the withdrawal of Florentin Pogba (FC Sochaux, France) and Antoine Conté (Universitate Craivo, Romania).
Pogba is “victim of a right knee and ankle injury ” while Conté, who played for the French Youth team and now at Universitatea Craivo (Romania), felt that he was “not at 100% of his physical form” according to a statement from the Guinean Federation. The two players called in as reinforcements are Fodé Camara from Horoya AC and Gaoussou Siby Youssouf from Wakrya AC.
Senegal’s AFCON Squad
Goalkeepers: Edouard Mendy (Chelsea/ENG), Alfred Gomis (Stade Rennais/FRA), Seny Dieng (QPR/ENG)
Defenders: Kalidou Koulibaly (Naples/ITA), Ibrahima Mbaye (Bologne/ITA), Bouna Sarr (Bayern Munich/GER), Cheikhou Kouyaté (Crystal Palace/ENG), Abdou Diallo (PSG/FRA), Abdoulaye Seck (Royal Antwerp/BEL), Fodé Ballo Touré (AC Milan/ITA), Saliou Ciss (Nancy/FRA), Pape Abou Cissé (Olympiakos/GRE)
Midfielders: Idrissa Gana Gueye (PSG/FRA), Nampalys Mendy (Leicester/ENG), Pape Matar Sarr (Metz/FRA), Moustapha Name (Paris FC/FRA), Mamadou Loum N’diaye (Deportivo Alavés/ESP), Pape Gueye (Marseille/FRA), Joseph Lopy (Sochaux/FRA)
Forwards: Sadio Mané (Liverpool/ENG), Boulaye Dia (Villarreal/ESP), Ismaïla Sarr (Watford/ENG), Habib Diallo (Strasbourg/FRA), Bamba Dieng (Marseille/FRA), Keita Balde Diao (Cagliari/ITA), Mame Baba Thiam (Kayserispor/TUR), Famara Diédhiou (Alanyaspor/TUR) — CAF Online
Online Reporter