Wafu Cup: Senegal introduce four new players ahead of Benin bout

Wafu Cup of Nations hosts Senegal are introducing four new faces into their squad for Thursday’s quarter-final clash with Benin.

The Teranga Lions progressed to the final eight of the cup competition after dispatching Guinea-Bissau in the tournament opener on Saturday, and they’ll now meet a Benin side who impressed against Guinea on Tuesday but required a late winner from Jerome Bonou to advance.

The hosts are set to welcome a quartet of Generation Foot players into the fold for Thursday’s game following the Senegalese champions’ troubled trip to Egypt to play SC Zamalek in the Caf Champions League this weekend.

Generation Foot were due to face the Cairene heavyweights at the Petrosport Stadium in Cairo, only for the match to be pushed back by a day at 24 hours’ notice, before the Senegalese club were informed that the venue had been changed to Alexandria.

The West Africans then opted to return home, unimpressed with the break in protocol and the last-minute rearrangement of the schedule, prompting Caf to award Zamalek a 3-0 victory, sending them into the Caf Champions League group stages.

The four players welcomed into the fold for Senegal are defenders Khadim Diaw and Djibril Thialaw Diop, midfielder Dominique Mendy, and attacker Mame Limoulaye Gueye.

Goalkeeper Pape Seydou N’Diaye, a league winner with Generation Foot last season, started for Senegal in their Wafu Cup opener, having come to the end of his contract with the Dakar-based side.