Senegal goalkeeper Édouard Mendy out with injury for knockout round match against Belgium

SEATTLE (AP) — Senegal goalkeeper Édouard Mendy is out for the team’s knockout round match against Belgium in the World Cup on Wednesday due to injury.

On Tuesday, coach Pape Thiaw confirmed the Al-Ahli goalkeeper will miss his second consecutive World Cup match because he injured his knee in Senegal’s 3-2 loss to Norway in group play.

Mendy returned to his club team in Saudi Arabia to undergo further testing. The 34-year-old goalkeeper was not present for Tuesday’s training session at Husky Soccer Stadium in Seattle, but Thiaw expects him to return Tuesday night.

“He’ll be with us tomorrow, of course, even if he won’t be fit to play,” Thiaw said in French. “We are happy to see him. We hope that he can be with us for the rest of the competition.”

Since his debut in 2019, Mendy has made more than 50 appearances for Senegal, and he started all four matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Senegal has two other rostered keepers. Mory Diaw, who plays for French top division side Le Havre, started against Iraq in addition to replacing Mendy against Norway. The 33-year-old goalkeeper made one save and kept a clean sheet in Senegal’s 5-0 win to round out group stage play.

“Mory had a great performance, he kept a clean sheet,” Thiaw said. “I think for the goalkeeper tomorrow, we hope that we’ll also come up with a clean sheet.”

Yehvann Diouf, who also plays in the French first division for Nice, is the other goalkeeper. The 26-year-old has two career caps for Senegal.

Senegal advanced to the round of 32 as one of the eight best third-place teams. It lost to France and Norway before trouncing Iraq, finishing with three points and a plus-two goal differential.

Belgium finished first in Group G with draws against Egypt and Iran and a 5-1 win over New Zealand.

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The winner of Wednesday’s match will stay in Seattle and face either the United States or Bosnia-Herzegovina on July 6.

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Owen Cameros is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here