| Player | Club | Country |
| Kadim Ndiaye | Linguere de Saint Louis | Senegal |
| Bouna Coundoul | New York Red Bulls | USA |
| Jacques Faty | Sivasspor | Turkey |
| Zarco Toure | Boulogne-sur-Mer | France |
| Cheikh Mbengue | Toulouse | France |
| Pape Ndiaye Souare | Lille | France |
| Makhtar Thioune | Karlsruher | Norway |
| Kader Mangane | Stade Rennais | France |
| Papa Gueye | Metalist Kharkiv | Ukraine |
| Abdoulaye Ba | Adademica Coimbra | Portugal |
| Cheikhou Kouyate | Anderlecht | Belgium |
| Idrissa Gueye | Lille | France |
| Mouhamed Diame | Wigan Athletic | England |
| Ricardo Faty | Aris | Greece |
| Stephan Badji | Sandnes Ulf | Norway |
| Ndiaye Deme Ndiaye | Arles Avignon | France |
| Boubacar Dialiba | KV Mechelen | Belgium |
| Ibrahima Balde | Osasuna | Spain |
| Mame Biram Diouf | Hannover | Germany |
| Papiss Demba Cisse | Newcastle United | England |
| Dame Ndoye | Kobenhavn | Denmark |
| Moussa Konate | Maccabi Tel Aviv | Israel |
Yesterday Bruno Metsu commented to Senegalese paper, Stades, that he would be interested in returning at the helm of the Teranga Lions. Although the Frenchman did not formally postulate for the job, he did not rule out his candidature should the Federation of Senegalese Football (FSF) call on him to take the reins of the team following Amara Traoré’s sacking.
Metsu declared his willingness to take the job when he stated: “I am interested because anyone would be interested by the Senegal project. However the ball is in the FSF’s court, but my heart is in it.” The current Al Gharrafa Doha (Qatar) coach opined that the team suffered from “a lack of alchemy” in describing the recent AFCON failure of the national team, before adding that he believes this group has the potential to be as great as the 2002 generation. Metsu concluded by saying that “being under contract [with current club] does not mean being in jail,” thus stoking the flames & corroborating his enthusiasm to returning to the national fold.
Metsu was very successful in his previous stint, taking the Teranga Lions to their first AFCON final as well as the ¼ finals of the 2002 World Cup, which understandably made him [then & still today] a fan-favorite amongst the Senegalese people.
Today Zambia qualified for the final of the AFCON after a 1-0 win over Ghana. It was Emmanuel Mayuka’s solitary strike that proved decisive in the tie against the Black Stars and booked a finals berth, a third time in Zambia’s history since 1974 [defeating Zaire] & 1994 [defeating Nigeria]. However it is the Chipolopolo coach, Hervé Renard, who will be grabbing all the headlines here in Dakar. Indeed various Senegalese media are rife with the Federation of Senegalese Football [reportedly] lining up the Frenchman to take over as National Team coach, following the dismissal of Amara Traoré.
The French coach began on the African circuit as assistant coach to Claude Leroy in 2007 [ironically] with Ghana. He spent a year with the Black Stars before taking over the Zambia post where he spent 2 years before leaving for Angola. However it did not go well as he encountered issues with obtaining a work visa & the remuneration promised by his contract and thus leaves after 6 months only. He then experiences a short 9-month stint with USM Alger before returning at the Zambia post he had left, in November 2011.
Renard’s current success is heavily based on him taking over the side he helped build 4 years ago. Having beaten so convincingly the Teranga Lions and leading his team to the final by beating tournament favorites Ghana, it is obvious why the Senegalese Federation would be so keen on appropriating themselves of Renard’s services.
President of the Federation of Senegalese Football (FSF), Augustin Senghor, expressed himself last night on the sacking of national team coach, Amara Traoré.
“After some thought and deliberation we have decided, in accordance with the executive committee, to put an end to our collaboration with Amara Traoré and his technical staff.” The president of the FSF added that the sacking is due to “objectives that have not been met as well as a number of deficiencies that we have witnessed during the AFCON campaign.”
President Senghor announced that despite the void left by the sacking of the coach & his technical staff, the friendly match vs. South Africa that was scheduled for the 29th of February still stands. The president of the FSF declared that coaches of the Olympic team, Karim Sega & Aliou Cissé (former 2002 captain), will take charge of the national team in the interim period that a new coach is being sought out. Indeed with the Olympic team scheduled for competition in April, President Senghor aims to draw on what he referred to as the ”logic of continuity” relative to the June qualification period the national team will have to undergo & that a fresh pair of eyes can prove beneficial in the “building of the foundations for a new start after an mid-course accident, albeit an accident that did a lot of damage."
“It’s shameful… I am ready to come back [to the team] if needed.” Those were the words of El Hadji Diouf following the sacking of Amara Traoré yesterday. The ex-Senegal international reacted to the sacking of Amara Traoré, stating that it was “shameful” that Amara Traoré did not step down of his own & had to be deposed instead.
Diouf has never held his tongue regarding his dislike of his former national team teammate, often – and vocally – calling into questions his competency not only as a tactician but also as a coach of Amara Traoré. “What diplomas does Amara have,” Diouf would often repeat, thus suggesting the complete lack of qualification Amara Traoré boasted of for the job.
Today Amara Traoré was relieved of his duties as coach of the Senegalese National Team. After 25 months in charge, the Senegalese coach was sacked following the disastrous AFCON 2012 campaign when Senegal lost all three of its group games.
There was much hope for the Teranga Lions who, under the leadership of Amara Traoré, oversaw an undefeated qualifying campaign which was a first in the history of Senegal. Arrived in Bata however, Amara Traoré and his team’s fortunes quickly changed however as they found themselves unable to beat the likes of Zambia, Equatorial Guinea & Libya. Senegal had entered the competition as one of the favorites but ended up being the first team to be eliminated.
Upon the return to Dakar, the imminent dismissal of Amara Traoré hung over his head like the sword of Damocles. The popular opinion was already not with the national team coach, berating him for his ultra offensive and unbalanced style of play as well as questioning his tactical competence to lead the side to trophies in Africa. Of course after the calamitous AFCON 2012 campaign, dubbed by the Senegalese media as “the fiasco of Bata”, it was going to be near impossible for Amara Traoré to remain as coach of the Teranga Lions. After all, the losses suffered in Bata exacerbated a winless run in AFCON since 2006. Various rumors and reports have it now that the Federation of Senegalese Football is looking to lure away Hervé Renard from his current post at the head of the Zambia team.
After the shock failure of AFCON 2012, the future of coach Amara Traoré is very much in jeopardy today. In a campaign when Senegal were considered one of the favorites of the tournament after the likes of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire and in a group composed of Equatorial Guinea (co-hosts), Libya & Zambia, Senegal had all the chances to qualify and were certainly expected to finish top. In the end however, Senegal were knocked out after three successive losses and having only scored three goals.
And so the knives are already out for Amara Traoré who has been far from a crowd favorite here in Senegal, and that even during the qualification campaign. Indeed much of the Senegalese people have quite a lot of beef with the national team coach, as they don’t consider Amara Traoré to have the stature to lead this group to glory on the continent. Amara Traoré played for Senegal just 10 years ago when he last participated in the 2002 World Cup. He also had experience abroad – albeit modest one – playing in Ligue 2 [in France] for Bastia, Metz, and most notably Gueugnon. A self-made man, Amara Traoré took advantage of the void left in Senegalese football following the 2002 success to prepare his return to the big stage. After completing his coaching badges in Germany, he became coach of ASC Linguère in 2007 and led his hometown club to successive promotions & then won the Senegalese Ligue 1 title (in 2009) at the first time of asking. His two-year stint at the Saint-Louis club made him the outstanding candidate for the national team job, after the Federation of Senegalese Football (FSF) had decided to move away from expensive foreign managers.
Much of the issue people have with Traoré has to do with his tactical ability & competency. Senegal's plethora of strikers is well known and Traoré has a tendency to want to play as many of them as possible at the same time. Indeed Traoré often played, throughout the qualification campaign, with Papiss Cissé leading the line, Dame Ndoye in-behind the striker as a playmaker, and Mamadou Niang & Moussa Sow as wingers down the flanks. Traoré consolidates all this with two holding midfielder whose main function is to protect the back-four & provide the forwards with the ball as soon as they recover it. In essence then, Traoré’s tactical formation of choice is the 1960s favorite and somewhat anachronistic 4-2-4. Another sticking point for the Senegalese fans is that the “team does not play” as there is an exorbitantly obvious lack of a proper midfield creator/playmaker. Finally, the much-publicized contract-renewal talks [mere months before start of the tournament] of Traoré will also play a role in this, with many sure to hold the coach’s demands [and eventual acquisition] of a higher pay-package against him.
Despite popular opinion to change his style of play however, Traoré stuck to his guns and oversaw a brilliant qualification campaign when Senegal end top of their group and were unbeaten coming into AFCON 2012. However it all came to aa terrible halt in a meteoric coming-down to Earth. The scarring experience in Bata showed that Senegal still has a long way to go and that the reconstruction phase still needs more time. The question that remains of course is will it be with Amara Traoré or with someone else? With AFCON 2013 [in South Africa] fast approaching, I would [personally] opt to retain the current coach & make a decision based on results then. However I am very much in the minority of those holding that opinion and I fear that Amara Traoré will not survive this coming inquest.
Last Sunday, Newcastle took on Aston Villa and triumphed over Alex McLeish’s by a 2-1 scoreline when the Magpies’ Senegalese duo did all the damage. In fact it was new signing, Papiss Demba Cissé, who scored a fantastic winner on his debut to give Alan Pardew’s side the three points.
The 26 year-old was prized away from struggling Bundesliga side, Freiburg, for a €12m fee and signed on to a five-and-a-half year contract with the Tyneside club. Papiss Cissé joins his Senegalese national team teammate, Demba Ba, who has proven a revelation since his arrival from West Ham. After a poor AFCON campaign where neither of the strikers was able to register a single goal however, they quickly recovered their good club form as it was Demba Ba who struck first for the Magpies before Robbie Keane cancelled out the Senegalese’s opener. It was an injury to Leon Best which afforded Papiss Cissé with an early entrance at the 13th minute of the match. Papiss Cissé stood up to the occasion and reputation of his no.9 shirt as the new Newcastle striker struck a sumptuous winner for a dream debut.
Indeed Papiss Cissé made due of the promise he had made upon joining the club: “I want to pay back the confidence the club have shown in me and give the supporters something to be proud of. I am aware of the importance of the no.9 shirt and, when I spoke with the manager, he made it very clear how important this shirt is. I will treat it with respect and hope to do my very best.”
I think it is fair to say that Papiss Cissé’s debut goal is a great testament to his devotion to make good on his promise to the Toon Army, who will be hoping for much of the same in the future. As for myself, I have the utmost faith in a striker I consider to be the most natural finisher in the current Senegal setup and who will prove to be as much a sensation as Demba Ba has been on Tyneside.
Today, the Senegalese people are blessed with an array of attacking talent. However, it all proved to be useless having been so unceremoniously dumped out of the AFCON with only 3 goals to their name. The Teranga Lions boast of impressive firepower in the form of Moussa Sow, Papiss Demba Cissé, Dame Ndoye, and Demba Ba. Sow ended as last season’s Ligue 1’s top scorer (25 goals), Papiss Cissé was the Bundesliga 2nd top scorer (22 goals), N’Doye was the Danish top scorer (25 goals), and Demba Ba is today the EPL’s 2nd top scorer. With such a wealth of attacking talent however, it does seem to paper over some glaring cracks in the Senegalese setup.
One of the issues with the Senegal team is the fact that it lacks a real central playmaker able to split defenses and play the ball into those dangerous areas for the strikers to take advantage of. The fact is that in the absence of such a player there lacks real fluency and that cohesion needed to link the midfield and the attack. Moreover the fact that the strikers – with the exceptions of Demba Ba and Ndoye – are not really capable of making chances for themselves makes that all the more apparent. Sow had his breakout season at Lille because he had the likes of Gervinho and Eden Hazard giving him the ball. Indeed Sow had struggled at [his previous club] Rennes because he was not getting the type of service he craved for and it was again the case this season following the Ivoirian’s departure [to Arsenal]. As for Papiss Cissé, the whole of the Freiburg team was geared towards giving him the ball and for the Senegalese to fire in the goals. The main issue is also that coach Amara Traoré tries to play too many of his strikers at the same time, usually shunting Sow to the wing and playing Ndoye as his no.10. This naturally makes the side very top-heavy and thus creates the problem of a depleted midfield that has to not only protect the defense but provide the forwards as well.
Thankfully there is a solution to the problem if the Senegal setup is unable to find that central playmaker. If Traoré is unable to uncover the talent with the vision and passing range to unlock defenses consistently and at the highest level [before the next AFCON], then a different type of midfielder could serve that purpose. The type of midfielder I am referring to is a technically comfortable and attack-minded box-to-box midfielder. It seems strange to call a box-to-box midfielder attack-minded, but here is what I mean by it. An attacking box-to-box midfielder would not only looks to opportunistically make runs forward to take advantage of spaces, but instead look to attack the opposition and burst from midfield to carry the ball forward. He would also need to be technically sound with good dribbling ability as well as able to eliminate his man in 1v1. Mohamed Diamé showed glimpses of that ability in the pre-AFCON friendlies against Kenya & Sudan, but ultimately failed to produce at the actual tournament. However I believe he is someone Traoré should be counting on in midfield. Another player with similar attributes – and I believe who is even better in terms of current ability & potential – is Lille’s Idrissa Gueye. The young midfielder did not make Amara Traoré’s 23-men squad but we should be one to build the future of the Senegal midfield around in my opinion. Another midfielder to consider could also be the captain of Casa Sport [named the Senegalese Ligue 1 player of the season], Stephan Badji, who is a more classical no.10 than both Diamé & Gueye.
In conclusion, I think we are all in agreement here that Senegal are more than competent up top. However it is no use having the four-headed hydra that is our attack if we cannot feed our strikers. We need the last piece of the midfield puzzle in order to add more fluency into our game. It is crucial to learn from this year’s AFCON disappointment and evolve in order to become competitive again in Africa, as well as it is pertinent to our ambitions to progress in next year’s AFCON in South Africa.
