AFCON 2015 COUNT DOWN: SAKHOS INTL FUTURE HANGS IMBALANCE: Senegal angry at Sakho withdrawal Senegal officials hope to prevent injured Diafra Sakho playing for West Ham during the three-week-long Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Forward Sakho, 25, is out with a back injury but Senegal wanted to assess the player themselves. Sakho has stayed in London, with West Ham insisting his injury is genuine. Theres no way he can fly. Hes obviously injured and hes going to miss the Africa Nations Cup, said Hammers assistant Neil McDonald. Senegals Group C fixtures 19 Jan: v Ghana in Mongomo 23 Jan: v South Africa in Mongomo 27 Jan: v Algeria in Malabo Senegal remain upset with a senior Senegal official accusing the Premier League side of a lack of respect over his withdrawal. Were going to Fifa and the English FA, Senegal Football Federation president Augustin Senghor told the Senegal Press Agency. Obviously, West Ham have shown a lack of respect in waiting until the last minute before alerting us to Sakhos unavailability for six weeks and even his inability to travel by plane to come and join the squad. Sakho missed three Premier League games after suffering a back injury just before Senegals final Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Botswana, which forced him to pull out of that match. Hammers boss Sam Allardyce was critical of Senegals handling of the player at the time, describing it as outrageous. Sakho will be replaced by Pape Moussa Konate, 21, who plays for Sion in Switzerland, at the tournament in Equatorial Guinea. It starts on 17 January and runs until 8 February. West Ham, seventh in the table, have four Premier League games and at least one FA Cup replay during the course of the Africa Cup of Nations. McDonald added: Weve been respectful, weve given Senegal information and kept in constant contact with them. Hes injured. Weve asked them to come across and assess him. Weve had independent scans done and scans from the club. Were not trying to stop anyone from going to represent their country.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 14:05:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015