Senegal captain Papiss Demba Cisse will miss Group J’s decisive World Cup qualifier against Uganda in September after accumulating two yellow cards.
The two face off at a neutral ground in Conakry, Guinea after Senegal, the would-be hosts, were banned from playing home matches in Dakar following crowd violence in a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ivory Coast.
The Newcastle striker, who netted a brace in Senegal’s 2-0 victory over Liberia in Monrovia at the weekend, got booked in that World Cup qualifier.
Cisse’s first booking came in Kampala last year in the 1-1 draw with Uganda, where he scored Senegal’s goal.
There is no confirmation yet whether the Senegalese Federation have received notice of the striker’s suspension from Fifa but the world body qualifying rules clearly state that a player will miss a subsequent match after accumulating two yellow cards in as many different games.
Cisse is Senegal’s leading scorer in the campaign with four of their eight goals, a clear testament that he will be missed by the West Africans.
But it could also be argued that they have enough quality to fill the void in Moussa Sow and Demba Ba, if the Senegal coach calls up the Chelsea striker after ignoring him in the previous two games.