No Liverpool's Mane, no cry, says Senegal coach

Reuters , Saturday 22 Jun 2019,

Senegal's coach Aliou Cisse attends a press conference at the 30 June stadium in Cairo on June 22, 2019, on the eve of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) football match between Senegal and Tanzania AFP

Senegal coach Aliou Cisse is not concerned about the absence of talisman Sadio Mane when his team kick off their Africa Cup of Nations campaign against Tanzania in Cairo on Sunday.

Mane is suspended after an accumulation of cautions in the qualifiers and is only available from Senegal’s second game in Group C of the tournament in Egypt.

"We would have preferred to have him playing. He is our best player, but we have players to make up for his absence," said Cisse, who also suggested that Mane is likely to benefit from sitting out the game after a long season with Champions League winners Liverpool.

Cisse also looked to downplay his side’s status as one of the pre-tournament favourites.

“We are challengers. The favourites are the teams that have won this tournament in the past. Senegal have never won the Africa Cup of Nations. Egypt have won it seven times!” he said.

“But we know our strength. We are real challengers. To get to the semi-finals would be expected from this team."

(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)

Search Keywords:

Reuters

Mane

Senegal

Liverpool

AFCON 2019

football

soccer

Short link:

ADD COMMENT

Your name: *

Your email: *

Comment’s Title: *

Comment:

Ahram Online welcomes readers' comments on all issues covered by the site, along with any criticisms and/or corrections. Readers are asked to limit their feedback to a maximum of 4000 characters (roughly 200 words). All comments/criticisms will, however, be subject to the following code

We will not publish comments which contain rude or abusive language, libelous statements, slander and personal attacks against any person/s.
We will not publish comments which contain racist remarks or any kind of racial or religious incitement against any group of people, in Egypt or outside it.
We welcome criticism of our reports and articles but we will not publish personal attacks, slander or fabrications directed against our reporters and contributing writers.
We reserve the right to correct, when at all possible, obvious errors in spelling and grammar. However, due to time and staffing constraints such corrections will not be made across the board or on a regular basis.