The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) has decided to set up self-checks to ensure the conformity of the ages of its players, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
For the final CAN U17 tournament, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has planned to carry out an eligibility test (IRM) for the players of the 12 participating teams. And the instance won’t mess around in case of fraud : If four or more players from a team are deemed ineligible, the entire selection will be disqualified.
Under these conditions, Senegal prefers to anticipate in order to avoid any unpleasant surprises, as indicated to theAPS the president of the FSF Augustin Senghor : “We begin to control ourselves. We do MRI tests to prevent some from over-aging and to be sure that our players meet the criteria. Whenever there is a little doubt, we prefer to dismiss the player. Today, we cannot gauge our team on its real value“.
The strong man of Senegalese football since 2009 also took the opportunity to share the ambitions of the national team of Senegal under 17 for this competition: “We share the group with the host country. Our objective is to get out of the group matches and aim for the semi-finals to ensure qualification for the World Cup“.
✈️ Senegal’s U17 lion cubs on their way to Algeria. #AFCONU172023 pic.twitter.com/p4B0UPSRPk
—TotalSport News (@totalsport221) April 22, 2023
D-7 before the start
The 2023 edition of the U17 Africa Cup of Nations will begin on Saturday April 29 with the inaugural match between Algeria and Somalia. The Senegalese will compete the next day against Congo. They will then face the Fennecs then Somalia, small thumb of the group. It should be noted that the Cubs have never won this competition, the first edition of which took place in 1995. During the CAN U17 2019, they had, like the Morocco, could not pass the hens. Perhaps on the occasion of this new edition they will be inspired by their elders, who had awarded themselves the final coronation in front of Egypt (0-0, 4 tab to 2) a little more than a year. In any case, U20 Cubs were last March…
