Izuchukwu OkosiSenegal will include Bayern Munich forward Sadio Mane in its World Cup squad to be announced Friday morning (today) despite the inquiry suffered by the African Footballer of The Year winner in a Bundesliga game according to sources within the Senegalese Football Federation.
Mane recently awarded Second place in the 2022 Ballon d’Or award was diagnosed with an injury to his right fibula after he hobbled off against Werder Bremen which the German champions won emphatically by 6-1.
Bayern have confirmed that he would undergo further tests in the coming days to ascertain how long he will be put for.
Mane was taken off after just 20 minutes on Tuesday – leading to huge fears about his fitness for Qatar with nine days left before the World Cup begins.
In a desperate bid to ensure that Mane makes it to the tournament, the Senegal Federation will employ the services of witchdoctors to quicken the recovery time of their star player.
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FIFA’s Senegalese Secretary-general, Fatma Samoura who occupies the number 2 position at FIFA, disclosed this to the media but insisted that there is no guarantee that the procedure will be successful.
“We are going to use witch doctors,” she told Europe 1. “I don’t know (if they’re effective) but in this instance, we’re going to use them anyway. We are hoping for miracles. He has to be there!”
“One thing is certain, Sadio Mane will be on the list tomorrow,” the source said, with coach Aliou Cisse set to announce his squad today (Friday).
According to the source, Mane ‘remains calm, he’s professional, he knows that injury is part of the job.’
Senegal’s opening game of the tournament on November 21 is against the Netherlands.
The Lions of Teranga will also take on hosts Qatar and Ecuador in Group A.
Senegal reached the quarterfinals of the tournament in 2002 when South Korea and Japan became the first nations to co-host the FIFA World Cup.
That quarterfinals feat from an African perspective was repeated by Ghana in 2010 when they lost out to Uruguay via penalties.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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