Saturday 17/January/2026 – 01:22 PM
Papi Thiaw, technical director of… Senegal national teamAbout the match that his country will play against its counterpart, Morocco, in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, which Morocco is currently hosting.
The Moroccan national team will face its counterpart, Senegal, in the final match of the 2025 African Cup of Nations, which will be held tomorrow evening, Sunday, at Moulay Abdallah Stadium in the Moroccan city of Rabat.
Pape Thiaw said in his statements during the press conference held to talk about the Morocco match: We do not want to see Sadio Mane leave, we want him to continue. The decision is not related to Sadio Mane only, but rather to the entire people. The people want him to continue and not retire, as he is important for the entire country.
Mane explained in previous press statements after the Egypt match that the current edition of the African Cup of Nations will be his last with the Senegal national team, in reference to the approaching announcement of his retirement from playing international football.
Pape Thiaw added: Of course, the Moroccan national team is the candidate to win the African Nations, as it is a very developed team, and Morocco’s ranking is higher compared to us, but in the end we won over Egypt, the best in Africa.
He added: The organization is great in Morocco, but what happened yesterday was completely unnatural. Africa’s image is important. The players were in danger at the train station and anything could have happened, but in the end our focus is on the final and our focus is entirely on the match.
The Senegal coach continued: Because of the African Cup of Nations, some stars did not win the Ballon d’Or in the past. Sadio Mane could have won it, but he was told that the African Nations are worthless, so when the organization is good, the tournament must be completed properly, and what happened yesterday was abnormal.
The Senegal national team coach concluded his speech by saying: The players were in danger at the train station, and anything could have happened if there were any ill-intentioned people. This is unacceptable, especially between two brotherly countries.
The Senegalese Federation had complained, in an official statement, about the lack of adequate security protection during the Senegal national team’s transfer, which put the national team’s players in great contact with the fans, almost leading to a crisis.
