Senegal forward Sadio Mané has been ruled out of the World Cup in Qatar in a crushing blow to his team’s chances, officials said on Thursday.
Mané had been a doubt for the tournament after picking up a leg injury playing for Bayern Munich last week, and it has now been confirmed he will not recover in time.
Senegal Football Federation officials announced that further scans had revealed he will require surgery. Mané is the talisman of the Senegal side and a key player for them in attack. His absence will be a blow to their chances of advancing out of Group A, where they face the Netherlands on Monday before playing host nation Qatar and Ecuador.
Argentina have called up forward Ángel Correa to replace Nicolás González in their World Cup squad after the latter sustained a muscle injury.
“After today’s training session, Nicolás González suffered a muscle injury and will not be included in the World Cup squad. In his place, the national team staff has called up Angel Correa,” Argentina said in a statement on Thursday.
The announcement came a day after coach Lionel Scaloni said the squad could change before Argentina’s opening World Cup match against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
The Copa América champions are also sweating on the fitness of defender Christian Romero and forwards Alejandro Gómez and Paulo Dybala, all of whom were left out of Argentina’s last warm-up match on Wednesday.
Ansu Fati seized his chance to impress Spain manager Luis Enrique as the Barcelona youngster scored in his side’s 3-1 victory over Jordan in their own warm-up match.
The 20-year-old was handed a start and needed only 13 minutes to make his mark in a sold-out Amman International Stadium, converting from a pass by Marco Asensio. The former world champions doubled their lead in the 56th minute when Carlos Soler dribbled into the box and set up Pablo Sarabia, with Gavi seizing on the loose ball to fire home.
Youngster Nico Williams, who replaced Fati late on, did his cause no harm with a well-taken third in the 84th minute. Spain face Costa Rica in their World Cup opener on Wednesday and they also face Germany and Japan in Group E.
Ghana scored twice in the space of four second-half minutes to secure a convincing 2-0 win over Switzerland.
Defender Mohammed Salisu broke the deadlock with a looping header from a poorly defended corner as Ghana took a 70th-minute lead. A storming run from Kamaldeen Sulemana four minutes later was blocked by Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer but the ball popped up for Antoine Semenyo to fire home from close range.