Senegal: African champions Teranga lions arrive Doha for world cup

The Senegalese national football team have arrived in Qatar without their star player Sadio Mane ahead of the 2022 World Cup. The team arrived in the early hours of Monday in Doha after converging first in Paris.

Senegal head coach Aliou Cisse had named his 26-man squad for the Qatar World Cup last Friday, with Mane selected despite recently suffering a leg injury.

Initial reports suggested Mane would miss the World Cup, but Cisse believes the 30-year-old merits a place in the squad even if he is unlikely to be available for Senegal's first game in Group A, against Netherlands.

About 90 percent of the 26-member squad are presently in camp with the likes of Nampalys Mendy, Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ismaila Sarr and Iliman Ndiaye all spotted according to Ghanasoccernet. This World Cup will be the third that the Teranga Lions have qualified for, and their first as reigning African champions. The African champions will open their World Cup account on Monday, November 21 when they take on Netherlands. Other members of their group A are host country Qatar and Ecuador.

Only three teams from Africa have reached the last-eight at a World Cup, but Senegal reached that milestone in their first-ever appearance in 2002.