November 15, 2022
The brief from today:
Senegal make Mane announcement
Despite the injury to Senegal forward, Sadio Mane, during Bayern Munich’s penultimate match preceding the World Cup break, Senegal coach, Aliou Cisse, still included him in the squad headed to Qatar. It was suspected that the shin injury Mane had sustained would typically require three to four weeks out, but his instrumental role for the national side warranted a gamble. Today, however, the level of that gamble became clear after the Senegalese Football Federation disclosed that Mane would miss his country’s “first games” at the World Cup. The specifics on this are still unclear, but what seems likely is that he won’t be available for the at least the first two group matches against the Netherlands and Qatar. The final round of the group sees Senegal take on Ecuador on November 29, and if he somehow manages to recover rapidly, then this would be the earliest possible match for him to appear in. The risk with all of this is that there may be some hasty decisions made by the staff, and the player, regarding the recovery—particularly if Senegal are battling for qualification for the knockout rounds towards the end of the group stage. Of course, this sort of thing is hardly an anomaly as numerous countries—including defending champions France—tend to wrestle with such decisions at most major tournaments. Time will tell how Mane’s particular situation will play out over the next few weeks.
Senegal look set to play the first few World Cup matches without star man: Sadio Mane
One final twist in the Byron Castillo saga
Byron Castillo has been the subject of a long running legal battle between Chile and the Ecuador. Castillo, it was alleged by Chile in a claim made to FIFA in June, is actually Colombian and shouldn’t have been eligible to play in the World Cup qualifiers for Ecuador. As a result of his participation, FIFA were urged to disqualify Ecuador for fielding an ineligible player, and in turn, Chile would take their place having finished one place behind in the CONMEBOL standings. FIFA rejected the first plea in June, as well as the second in September, before Chile appealed the decisions to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The decision from CAS eventually came down last week with the appeals court dismissing Chile’s claims, and confirming Ecuador’s place at the World Cup. Now, after all of that, one last twist has arrived, and that came in the form of the final Ecuador squad heading to Qatar. Ecuador coach, Gustavo Alfaro, has left Byron Castillo out of the 26-man squad chosen to represent the country in the competition. It was certainly not the ending many expected after all the legal jostling, but it certainly added that final bit of drama to an already eventful situation.
After all the eligibility drama, there is no room for Castillo in the final Ecuador World Cup squad