FIFA World Cup 2022
Africa Cup winner Senegal has to do without superstar Sadio Mane at the World Cup in Qatar. The FC Bayern Munich striker is suffering from an injury to his right fibula and will be out of the tournament, the Senegalese association announced on Thursday. Argentina also has to cope with a failure shortly before the start of the World Cup.
According to FC Bayern, Mane was already operated on Thursday evening in Innsbruck. According to the information, a tendon on the right fibula head was reattached during the operation. Mane is scheduled to start his rehabilitation in Munich in the coming days. It is not known how long the ex-Salzburg player will be out. An MRI scan had previously shown that Mane was not recovering from the injury as quickly as had been hoped, team doctor Manuel Afonso said via Twitter. “So we decided to declare Sadio’s withdrawal from the World Cup,” said Afonso.
For the African team, the absence of the 30-year-old is a major setback in the fight for promotion to the Round of 16 in Group A. Mane, who finished second behind Karim Benzema in the Ballon d’Or award this year, had himself injured in Bayern’s game against Werder Bremen on November 8th. Until the very end, the national team had hoped that their figurehead would be used. Senegal meet the Netherlands on Monday (17.00 CET) before hosts Qatar and Ecuador. Team boss Aliou Cisse has until Sunday to nominate a substitute.
Argentina without Fiorentina striker Gonzalez
Meanwhile, Argentina also has a loss to complain about, albeit not such a prominent one. Argentinian team boss Lionel Scaloni has to do without Nicolas Gonzalez. The AC Fiorentina forward suffered a muscle injury in training and will not be available for the finals in Qatar. This was announced by the Argentine association on Thursday.
Atletico Madrid’s Angel Correa has been called up to replace Gonzalez. The Argentines will play their opening match at the World Cup against Saudi Arabia next Tuesday. The other group opponents of the 2021 Copa America winners are Mexico and Poland.
