Senegal assistant coach Omar Daf denies bad blood with striker Diafra Sakho

Former Senegal defender and now assistant coach Omar Daf has denied reports of a rift between him and striker Diafra Sakho.

After tasting just four minutes of action at the World Cup, an unhappy Sakho is said to have registered his anger by banging a table in the dressing room.

Also a few unpleasant words were reported to have been directed at Daf who was assistant to head coach Aliou Cisse.

But Daf has distanced himself from rumours of bad blood between himself and the Stade Rennes forward whose four minutes of action came against Colombia in their last group match.

“I never had a problem with Diafra Sakho,” Daf was quoted as saying by Seneweb.

“I repeat, I never had a problem with Diafra. I’m a coach and I'm here to do my job professionally. Everything that happens in the dressing room must stay there.

“For me, there is no problem and we have worked well in this competition (World Cup). Frankly, I’m not used to talking too much about what's going on around my team.

“When we go into competition, we have 23 players who have to serve their country. Be on the bench, on the field, we must all be behind the team."

Monaco forward Keita Balde is another Senegalese player who has expressed frustration at limited World Cup role.

It would be interesting to see if some of these players would be retained for the Afcon qualifiers that commence in September.