Senegal expect to surprise despite missing stars.

Quick Facts:

·         Best Olympic Result: Never qualified

·         2008 Olympic Result: Did not qualify 

·         Coach: Abdoukarime Diouf 

Despite missing their top stars Senegal will be full of confidence after defeating pre-tournament favorites Spain 2-0 in Spain as well as a 1-0 victory over fellow finalist Switzerland during their tournament build-up

Road to London: Senegal took the long road to their inaugural appearance at the Olympics, missing many of their top stars for the CAF Championships late last year, Senegal managed to advance from the group stage but were upset by Gabon in the semi-finals. They went on the lose 2-0 to Egypt  in the play-off match.   The Lionceaux the played Oman in April and this time they came away victorious behind goals from Ibrahima Balde and Abdoulaye Sane to give them a 2-0 win in Coventry against Oman.

We are working hard to improve the team. Apart from the technical and tactical aspects, the most important thing that has to be 100 per cent if we want to have success at the Olympics is mental strength and the ability to keep focused”, said deputy coach Aliou Cisse told FIFA.com 

Key Players: Ibrahima Balde, Magaye Gueye, Abdoulaye Ba, Kara Mbodji, Mohamed Diame, Abdoulaye Sane.

Senegal will be without top strikers captain Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba after they were unable to convince their club Newcastle to release them for the games. They receive another blow when free scoring Dame N'Doye was not released by his club for the games.

Senegal who struggled to produce goals from their strikers during the U23 African Championships will hope the addition of Everton striker Magaye Gueye will change their fortunes. Gueye recently received clearance from Fifa to allow his switch of nationality from France to Senegal.

West Ham United midfielder Mohamed Diame, 25, and Papa Gueye, 28, of Metallist Kharkiv in Ukraine are the over-age players in the squad.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Ousmane Mane (Diambars FC), Papa Demba Camara (Sochaux, France)

Defenders: Abdoulaye Ba (Academica Coimbra, Portugal), Serigne Kara Mbodji, Saliou Ciss (both Tromso, Norway), Papa Gueye (Metallist Kharkiv, Ukraine), Pape Ndiaye Souare (Lille, France), Zargo Toure (Boulogne-sur-Mer, France), Victor Demba Bindia (Sandefjord, Norway), Cheikhou Kouyate (Anderlecht, Belgium)

Midfielders: Stephane Badji (Sogndal, Norway), Idrissa Gana Gueye (Lille, France), Mohamed Diame (West Ham United, England), Moussa Konate (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel), Sadio Mane (Metz, France)

Forwards: Magaye Gueye (Everton, England), Ibrahima Balde (Osasuna, Spain), Kalidou Yero (Gil Vicente, Portugal). 

Stand-by: Issa Ndiaye (AS Douanes), Ibrahima Seck (SAS Epinal, France), Abdoulaye Sane (Rennes, France).