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International Friendly Match
Senegal vs Zambia
Stade Lat-Dior
Thies, Senegal
Saturday, 5 June 2021
Kick-off is at 21:00 CAT
Senegal and Zambia will meet in an international friendly match at Stade Lat-Dior in Thies on Saturday.
June's friendly matches are set to prepare both teams for the
2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers which are set to kick-off in September this year.
Image copyright: Getty Images
The Lions of Teranga have named a strong squad to take on Chipolopolo. Chelsea goalkeeper and UEFA Champions League winner Edouard Mendy and Liverpool forward Sadio Mane headline the 26-man squad that will also face Cape Verde.
Aliou Cisse's men have been in superb form and qualified for next year's Africa Cup of Nations with an unbeaten record. Later this year, the West African nation will be setting their sights on qualifying for back-to-back World Cup tournaments.
Zambia face Senegal, Benin and Sudan away from home.
Chipolopolo will be without several key players for the upcoming matches. RB Salzburg duo Patson Daka and Enock Mwepu have been excused from Zambia's three-match friendly tour during the FIFA international match window.
Daka and Mwepu are fresh off from inspiring the Austrian Bundesliga giants to a seventh successive league title and are both subject to a lot of transfer speculation.
Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic will also be without Zambia captain and midfielder Lubambo Musonda due to injury while Simba SC star Clatous Chama withdrew from the tour following the death of his wife on May 29.
“The friendlies they have secured for us are very good. These are the friendly games that we wanted,” said TP Mazembe and Zambia defender Kabaso Chongo.
“I am very sure that they are going to challenge us as a team and they will be a good stepping stone for us before the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September.
“People must not doubt the quality of the opponents; these are very high-level friendlies against solid and experienced teams.
“We must continue with the same momentum that we produced in our final two AFCON qualifiers even though we didn’t make it but we need to continue building our confidence and also win back our fans' faith before the World Cup qualifiers start," Chongo added.
This will be the first meeting between Senegal and Zambia since a 1-1 draw in August 2013.