African champions Senegal will apparently have to do without ex-Bundesliga professional Ismail Jakobs at the World Cup in Qatar. According to media reports, there are discrepancies in the naturalization process for the native of Cologne.
As several portals reported late on Saturday evening (11/19/2022), the defender of the French Ligue 1-Clubs AS Monaco ineligible to play in the tournament in the emirate. The competent authority in Senegal did not give the green light for the 23-year-old to be deployed, it said. The decisive factor is that something is wrong with the administrative file of the former German junior international.
The expulsion of the former 1. FC Köln defender from the “Lions” World Cup squad has not yet been finalized. The world football association FIFA still has the defensive specialist in the West African country’s official line-up. And the Senegalese football association, the Fédération Sénégalaise de Football, has also remained silent about Jakob’s personal details to date.
Jakobs has played twice for Senegal
A World Cup exit for Jakobs would come as a great surprise, as the 23-year-old made two appearances for the African champions last September. However, Senegal’s duels with Bolivia (2-0) and Iran (1-1) were only friendlies. This may be why the association and authorities turned a blind eye at the time, despite the naturalization process apparently not being fully completed. Speculative.
The fact is that Jakobs, who was European champion with Germany’s U21s last year and only decided a few weeks ago to play for Senegal, was counting on playing in Qatar. “A dream comes true,” he wrote on November 11 on his Instagram account under a picture of him in the Senegalese national jersey. Before the first media reports about his supposed World Cup exit appeared on Saturday (11/19/2022), he posted another photo on the same channel with the caption: “Hungry Lion” and the hashtag #fifaworldcup2022.
Anderlechts N’Diaye is to replace Jakobs
One man’s sorrow is another man’s joy. Because national coach Aliou Cissé has already ordered a replacement for Jakobs to Qatar. This is left-back Moussa N’Diaye from RSC Anderlecht. The 20-year-old is expected in the Emirate on Sunday (November 20, 2022). His Belgian club confirmed the nomination via Twitter.
Should the defender from Dakar actually play in Senegal’s first game against the Netherlands on Monday (November 21, 2022, 5 p.m.), the controversial Winter World Cup would have its first really crazy story. When N’Diaye was contacted by Coach Cissé on Saturday, the defender was celebrating his wedding in the city of Guédiawaye. Now it’s time for him: football instead of honeymoon…