Niang left out of the 22 against Algeria…

On friday night in Blida, located about 45 km south-west of Algiers, Senegal will face the Fennecs of Algeria in the first of our second leg matches for the next African Cup of Nations as well as the next World Cup. After the first game against Lybia where we drew one of the worst teams I’ve ever seen play, it was expected to see a lot of players who were obviously not ready to play not called back. But apparently those players are coming back since he hasn’t changed a single player out of the initial lineup. Here are the players Lamine Ndiaye picked.

Goalkeepers :
Tony Mario Sylva (Trabzonsport)
Bouna Coundoul (Colorado Rapids),
Pape Laye Coulibaly (St-Etienne)

Defenders :
Pascal Mendy (Kaunas, Lituanie),
Abdoulaye Diagne Faye (Stoke City),
Pape Malickou Diakhaté (Dynamo Kiev),
Ibrahima Faye (Troyes),
Ibrahima Sonko (Stoke City),
Massamba Lô Sambou (Le Havre),
Cheikh Guèye (Metz)

Midfielders
Kader Mangane (Rennes)
Nguirane Ndaw (Nantes),
Issiar Dia (Nancy)
Ousmane Ndoye (FC Vaslui)
Salif Diao (Stoke City)
Frédéric Mendy (Bastia)

Strikers:
Papa Waigo Ndiaye (Fiotrentina),
Henri Camara (Wigan)
El Hadj Diouf (Sunderland)
Mbaye Lèye (Zulte Waragem),
Babacar Guèye (Metz),
Mamadou Sougou (Academica Coimbra).

You may have noticed the absence of Mamadou Niang. Well Mamadou Niang asked to be left out of the national selection because he was tired. I’ve talked about it before but I was one to believe it was just him wanting to go on vacation and not come in while he could have been on a beach. Apparently, National Coach Lamine Ndiaye felt the same way and called him up anyway. When Mamadou failed to show up, Ndiaye didn’t mention it and as we all know, the man can hold a grudge. Asked a few weeks ago what would happen, he made it clear that the only way for Mamadou Niang to come back to the national team would be to apologize with a letter.
Which Mamadou Niang declared he wouldn’t write, citing some people on the team that get a pass no matter what they do while he’s stigmatized as one of the players who play at 50 60% of their possibilities.
I was kinda over the whole “I’ll come only when it really matters” stance a few players have taken in the past. And I’m happy that it is being reinforced by Lamine Ndiaye so that the national teams becomes competitive again and that some people don’t take their caps lightly. But after the whole ACN debacle, Mamadou Niang seemed genuinely concerned about how our national team was turning into something we would never like to see. We were ridiculed down in Tamalé and some of our most senior players made themselves noticed in the worst possible ways.
I’m not going to remind you but Mamadou Niang was as examplary as one could be even if he hasn’t scored any goals there. And the fact that someone like El Hadji Diouf gets a pass for announcing his retirement, coming back and basically saying he would only speak to the President. Just to be found coming out of a bar while in Ghana the day before our most important this side of the 2002 World Cup.
So maybe it will take us to lose against Algeria or maybe it will take one of these men to swallow his pride (I’m leaning Niang since Lamine Ndiaye has shown many times how irrational he can be) for this to stop. Or maybe we’re looking at Senegal’s own version of David Tréeguet.