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Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Sadio Mane was the ‘quiet kid’ with the superstar talent
DAKAR — One fan thumped his chest with his fist. Another raised a Senegalese flag high in the air. Around them, hundreds of others shouted, jumped and darted about in wild celebration. Sadio Mane had scored. It didn’t matter that Mane’s goal was for Liverpool, not Senegal. Nor that his club would lose to Real Madrid in the Champions League final. “He’s our leader,” said Samba Ndiaye, 27, who wore a $5 knockoff “Mane” Liverpool jersey to the Champions League final viewing party at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. “He scores, but he also does things on the field that no one else does. He can make the difference.” Mane, who left a rural village in southern Senegal as a teenager to find international stardom in Europe, hopes to defy the odds again at the World Cup in Russia. Senegal has waited 16 years since its World Cup debut, when the 2002 team famously defeated defending champion France on the way to a quarterfinal finish. Now, the West African nation is expecting its shy 26-year-old superstar to take Senegal to even greater heights. While Mane’s club career sparkles — he’s the highest-scoring Senegalese player in Premier
League history — national team results have been mixed. He impressed at the 2012 Olympics, missed the penalty that sent highly rated Senegal home from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in a shootout in the quarterfinals, then bounced back to help his country qualify for Russia. Senegal plays Poland, Japan, and Colombia in Group H at the World Cup, which Mane described as “a tough group.” He downplays talk of being the main man for Senegal, which is captained by midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate. “The main man all the time is the team, so for us the collective is more important,” Mane said. The 5-foot-8 winger also said he doesn’t feel pressure. “Honestly, I don’t know the word pressure, because football is my job. I always enjoy it,” he said. Mane was a scrawny 15-yearold boy when he joined Generation Foot, a Senegalese academy whose partnership with Metz in
France gives top prospects a shot at European soccer. He showed speed and skill in his tryout. But Mady Toure, Generation Foot’s founder and president, also liked Mane’s focus. “He was so sure of himself,” Toure said in an interview with The Associated Press outside the national stadium in Dakar after a recent game. “Sadio’s success doesn’t surprise me.” Mane’s determination also saw him succeed despite his father’s threats. In an emotional 2017 interview with former French international William Gallas, Mane said his father was furious at him for playing soccer while ignoring school. He was 18 when he left Dakar for Metz in northeast France on a trainee contract. Only the best earn pro deals, the rest go home. As if that wasn’t stressful enough, he arrived with a groin injury and had to either play through the pain or have surgery. “He was really limited by it. It
had to be fixed,” said Toure, who regularly visited Metz and urged Mane to get surgery. Mane recovered and spent several months training with the Metz reserve team. Soon, the senior squad coaches took notice. “His technique, his attacking, his passing were rare for a player of his age,” Patrick Hesse, who was the Metz assistant coach, said in a telephone interview. “His first touch is perfect. His control, his speed. It was incredible.” Kevin Diaz, a Metz midfielder at that time, said Mane impressed during his first practice with the first team. He described Mane’s speed as “supersonic.” Mane’s professional debut was Jan. 14, 2012, when he came on as a substitute for Diaz. That Metz side also featured a young Kalidou Koulibaly, Mane’s French-born teammate with Senegal. Mane had a strong performance at the 2012 London Games and transferred to Red Bull Salzburg. He moved to Southampton in 2014, and to Liverpool two years later, where he has been outstanding. But club success, even scor-
ing in a Champions League final, won’t matter to the Senegalese if the World Cup ends badly. “During the last African Cup, he was the leader, but something was missing,” said Yannick Mandaba, a soccer analyst for Senegalese channel 2STV, which hosted the viewing party. “But with the season he just had, it’s official he is the leader of the team.” Mandaba, a former professional goalkeeper in France who also works at Dakar’s Sacre-Coeur academy, noted that Mane is “a quiet kid.” Mane is often described like that — quiet, shy, humble. He’s not timid, but he’s also probably not the guy to give the halftime speech. Hesse, the former assistant at Metz, still keeps up with Mane’s career and feels there’s much more to come. “I love following him. Each time he changes clubs, he improves,” Hesse said. “At Liverpool, he’s reached another dimension. He scored at Salzburg, he scored at Southampton, he’s scoring at Liverpool, he scored in the Champions League. He’s still improving. He’s 26. He’s not finished.”(ap)
Prospect of 2022 Qatar World Cup jumping to 48 teams fading
MOSCOW — The prospect of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar growing to 48 teams faded Sunday after a discussion of the thorny issue was pulled from the agenda for FIFA’s annual congress. Plans for a feasibility study were put on hold after Qatar World Cup head Hassan Al-Thawadi addressed the ruling council of world football’s governing body and FIFA President Gianni Infantino said agreement from the Gulf nation is a “precondition.” Having previously said he was keen on an adding 16 teams, Infantino is now casting doubt on the possibility of further disrupting preparations for the Qatar tournament. The FIFA Congress, which features up to 211 football federations, will now have no say in the number of teams at the tournament in Qatar. Infantino said there would be no
change in the number of finalists once qualifying begins, which is likely in early 2019. “The final decision is that the council will decide,” Infantino said after Sunday’s council meeting in Moscow. “But obviously it cannot decide this without the agreement with the hosts of Qatar. That’s a precondition obviously.” Qatar is building eight stadiums to host the Middle East’s first World Cup and 12-14 venues would be required to accommodate 48 teams. That would only realistically be possible if Qatar shared hosting duties, which is problematic because its Middle East neighbors severed ties with Qatar in a diplomatic dispute last year and because it would be a significant change from the plans FIFA voters agreed to in 2010. The Qatar World Cup schedule has already been changed, with the tour-
nament moved from its usual JuneJuly slot to November-December due to the fierce summer heat. FIFA is already committed to a 48-team World Cup in 2026 and the South American confederation of 10 nations formally asked Infantino in April to fast-track the expansion. Infantino has toned down his initial enthusiasm over the concept, with little sign of support away from CONMEBOL. “It’s really premature to discuss about any of the details about it,” Infantino said. “The FIFA administration will discuss with the hosts and then we will see. For the moment what there is, is a World Cup with 32 teams being played.” Regardless of the number of teams playing in Qatar, the way all 211 men’s national sides are seeded in qualifying is being reconfigured.
‘Welcome to Russia,’ Putin tells WCup fans, teams MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin is welcoming soccer teams and fans to Russia for the World Cup, saying the tournament will be thrilling and memorable. “For our country, it’s a great joy and honor to receive representatives from the massive footballing family,” Putin said in a video statement released Saturday. He promised “a real celebration - filled with sporting
passion and strong emotions.” Putin added “I hope that you will have lasting memories, not only of the matches of the best teams and the skills of the players, but also of your acquaintance with Russia - its distinctive culture, unique history and rich character and her hospitable, sincere and friendly people.” He concluded in English, saying “Welcome to Russia.”(ap)
In this Friday, Dec. 1, 2017 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the 2018 soccer World Cup draw in the Kremlin in Moscow. Vladimir Putin’s Russia was always going to be a controversial host, but few could have imagined the situation that greets the 2018 World Cup. The annexation of Crimea, alleged U.S. election interference, the war in Syria and a poisoned spy in Britain are just a few of the storms surrounding the Kremlin before Putin officially declares the tournament open June 14.
AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili
In this May 5, 2018 photo, a giant image of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, adorns a tower in Doha, Qatar. At a time when the U.S. hopes to exert maximum pressure on Iran, a regional bloc created by Gulf Arab countries to counter Tehran looks increasingly more divided ahead of the anniversary of the diplomatic crisis in Qatar.
A new formula that rewards teams for playing more games was approved Sunday, and it takes effect in July ranking after the World Cup in Russia. The current system in place since 1993 lets teams boost their status by avoiding friendly games. Now, teams will gain or lose points from their existing points total with each result. Even more weight will be given to competitive games over friendlies. “The new formula (is) more intuitive and accurate, eliminating the potential for ranking manipulation,” FIFA said. Germany is the top-ranked team when the World Cup kicks off Thursday in Moscow. Before the tournament starts, FIFA will be deciding the host of the 2026 World Cup. The council rubber-stamped the participation of Morocco and the joint United StatesCanada-Mexico bid in the ballot on
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Wednesday. The North America bid has the edge after scoring 4 overall on a 0-to5 scale in the FIFA inspection panel’s reports. Morocco scored 2.7, with three parts of the proposals labeled “high risk” — notably the lack of stadiums and hotels. It is likely only 206 football federations will vote after Kosovo officials told FIFA they will not attend the election meeting after the sudden death of federation president Fadil Vokkri, a former Yugoslavia international, at age 57. Ghana has kept its right to vote, despite risking a FIFA suspension for government interference in how the national football body is run. Football in Ghana is in turmoil after a television documentary this week broadcast footage of officials taking cash payments from undercover reporters posing as businessmen.(ap)