Senegal minister axed

By James Copnall
BBC Sport, West Africa

Stephan is expected to be sacked on Saturday

Senegal's Sports Minister Youssoupha Ndiaye was sacked on Wednesday, just days after the Teranga Lions failed to beat Togo in a World Cup qualifier in Dakar.

Prime Minister Macky Sall fired Ndiaye after Saturday's 2-2 draw with the Hawks all but ruined Senegal's chances of qualifying for next year's World Cup finals in Germany.

Sall himself will take charge until a replacement is found, according to a presidential decree read on national radio.

The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) has called a meeting this Saturday to assess the team's performance against Togo.

A huge groundswell of opinion among supporters and journalists alike is pushing Senegal's French coach Guy Stephan towards the exit door.

But the coach himself is determined to stay: "The idea of resigning would not cross my mind while we still have a chance to qualify for the World Cup," he told the Senegalese daily Le Quotidien.

Scores of young men have been marching from radio station to radio station calling for the resignation of Stephan and FSF President Said Fahkry.

Radio phone-in programs have been inundated with calls for Stephan to be sacked, with angry fans and even the presenters criticising the Frenchman's alleged inflexibility and poor coaching decisions.

Senegal were unable to protect a 2-1 lead against Togo on Saturday, and now have to hope the Hawks slip up if they are to go to Germany 2006.

A failure to go to the World Cup would be a harsh blow for a country which rejoiced in the Teranga Lions reaching the quarter-finals in 2002.

Stephan has come close to losing his job before, after Senegal's disappointing 2004 Nations Cup ended in the quarter-finals.

In February last year the FSF announced they wished to replace him, only for Ndiaye to decide otherwise.

Stephan - and Senegalese football as a whole - will await Saturday's decisive meeting with great anxiety.