UNITED STATES — Africa Cup of Nations final hero Pape Gueye has indefinitely quit the Senegal national team in the aftermath of their FIFA World Cup exit against Belgium on Wednesday, revealing that he will only return to the fold when the current technical team are replaced.
Posting on his Instagram story on Wednesday evening, only hours after the Teranga Lions had been defeated 3-2 by Belgium after extra time — despite holding a 2-0 lead with five minutes to play — Gueye confirmed his decision to step away from international football.
“I will come back to tell you some more words regarding our elimination,” he posted on his @p.gueye24 account, “but I announce today that as long as this technical staff are in place, I will be taking a break from the national team.”
It remains to be seen exactly which issues between the player and the coaching team have prompted the 27-year-old to take the decision, or whether his frustration is also aimed at head coach Pape Thiaw.
Gueye had been recalled to the starting XI after being dropped from the team for the victory over Iraq — a match in which he came off the bench to score twice in the second half — but was substituted for Lamine Camara in the 66th minute of Wednesday’s Last 32 match, with Senegal leading 2-0.
The African champions had established control of the match through goals from Habib Diarra and Ismaïla Sarr in each half, but Romelu Lukaku reduced the deficit in the 86th minute before Youri Tielemans equalised three minutes later as the Teranga Lions collapsed.
Tielemans then struck a 24th-minute penalty after Camara had brought him down in the box during the final moments of extra time.
After the match, Thiaw explained his decision by indicating that he felt Gueye had been tiring during the second half, although the Villarreal midfielder denied that he was suffering from fatigue when questioned in the mixed zone.
“Physically I was good,” he told journalists, “but the coach has taken his choices, and we have to respect that.
“You’ll have to ask the coach [about why I was subbed], he’s the one who makes those decisions.”
Gueye, who scored the extra-time winner in January’s controversial AFCON final victory over Morocco in Rabat, had started Senegal’s opening two group-stage games — defeats by France and Norway — before losing his place in the starting XI for the thumping victory over Iraq.
His international retirement and thinly veiled criticism of the technical team comes in the aftermath of a troubled campaign for Senegal in which rumours of non-paid bonuses, a contractual impasse between Thiaw and the federation, as well as catering issues at the team accommodation threatened to overshadow the team’s on-field performance.
Thiaw eventually announced his contract extension during the competition, although in light of Senegal’s poor group-stage performance, their implosion against Belgium, and now the decision of Gueye, it remains to be seen whether the Senegalese Football Federation will find themselves under pressure to make a decision about his future.
