The Winter World Cup in Qatar is not only criticized because of the highly controversial host. The appointment doesn’t exactly cause enthusiasm either. After hard months, the superstars playing in Europe are on their last legs and drag themselves into the desert with the last of their strength.
Sadio Mané tries. Naturally. The ailing leader with the “heart of a lion” will not miss a World Cup for his home country. Despite his injury, which he only suffered on Tuesday. Bayern Munich’s superstar, a folk hero in Senegal, a brand like CR7 or RL9 elsewhere, is part of the squad for the African champions that national coach Aliou Cisse announced in Dakar. However, it is uncertain whether Mane will be able to play at all in Qatar given his right fibula head injury. The remaining days until the start of the World Cup will be a race against time.
Cisse said they would do “everything necessary to allow Sadio to recover.” “It’s important to continue to follow his injury and hope that there will be improvement in two or three weeks. But we’re really optimistic.” On Friday in Munich, Julian Nagelsmann warned against being too optimistic. “It’s clear that Senegal would like him to play,” said the Bayern coach and announced a “follow-up check in ten days”: “If he’s in pain, he won’t be able to play, even if the association likes it would have.”
And so the whole country is trembling as to whether the 30-year-old captain and attacker can still play in the preliminary round with games against the Netherlands, Ecuador and hosts Qatar. Mané’s participation is elementary for Senegal. The striker, who has scored 33 goals and 20 assists in 92 international matches, led his team to their first ever Africa Cup of Nations triumph in February and then to the World Cup in March. So it’s no wonder that the Mané case in Senegal even got the highest government circles on the scene. “Sadio, heart of a lion! My whole heart is with you,” wrote Senegalese President Macky Sall on Twitter: “God bless you!”
Like Mané, many other stars of the scene drag their way to the desert tournament on the Persian Gulf with sometimes major and sometimes minor ailments. Players like South Korea’s hopeful Heung-Min Son (facial surgery after breaking an eye socket), France’s world footballer Karim Benzema (thigh problems) or Belgium’s striker Romelu Lukaku (thigh) were recently absent from their clubs due to injury – just to somehow make their participation in the World Cup possible.
So that the list of ailing players doesn’t get any longer, the motto for the coming weekend is: Don’t take any risks! When the last games before the World Cup break are played in the top European leagues, many are already thinking of Qatar. “One of the players’ eyes is already on the World Cup,” said Pep Guardiola, Manchester City team manager – and said before the league game against Brentford what many footballers are currently worried about. “What happens if I get injured against Brentford? It won’t affect whether I end up winning the Premier League or not. I’ll miss the World Cup.”
The chasing of deadlines in the run-up to the Christmas World Cup has already claimed a number of prominent victims. World champions France have to do without N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba due to injuries, the DFB selection on Timo Werner, record world champions Brazil on Philippe Coutinho.
