No Mane, no cry, says Senegal coach

Powerful Senegal will launch their Africa Cup of Nations campaign against Tanzania in Cairo today without Liverpool star Sadio Mane, but coach Aliou Cisse is unconcerned.

The 27-year-old forward is serving a one-match ban after being yellow-carded twice during qualifying for the biennial showcase of African football.

“His absence should not in any way bother us,” stressed Cisse, who was part of the Senegal team that finished runners-up to Cameroon in the 2002 Cup of Nations, their best showing.

“Certainly the presence of Saworld dio is beneficial, but without him we remain strong,” added Cisse ahead of the Group C clash.

Mane also missed the opening match of the 2015 tournament in Equatorial Guinea against Ghana owing to a calf injury.

Senegal are ranked 22 in the and Tanzania 131, making this the biggest mismatch on paper of the 36 first-round matches in Egypt.

Even without talisman Mane, it would be a shock if the Teranga Lions failed to secure maximum points against the second lowestranked side in the competition, above only Burundi.

Many pundits believed Senegal would go all the way two years ago, but they fell to eventual champions Cameroon in the quarter-finals after Mane missed a penalty in a shootout.

The huge ranking gap between the countries does not concern Tanzania coach Emmanuel Amunike, a Cup of Nations winner as a player with Nigeria 25 years ago.

“Do not be surprised if you see some of these so-called big teams packing their bags early and heading home,” he said.