Lechantre appointed to coach Senegal

Former Africa Cup of Nations winner Pierre Lechantre has been appointed the new coach of Senegal.

Lechantre got the nod ahead of French compatriot Bruno Metsu, who led the Senegalese to the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals.
Lechantre replaces Amara Traore, who was fired after a disastrous Nations Cup earlier this year.
The Teranga Lions were one of the pre-tournament favourites but lost all three of their first round games.
The 62-year-old has previously coached Cameroon, leading them to the 2000 Nations Cup and Olympic titles.
He has also coached Mali's Eagles but with little success.
Lechantre's other national coaching post was in Qatar and he last worked with Qatari club Al Arabi.
The Frenchman has vowed to put his own imprint on Senegalese football as the country seeks to reach the dizzy heights of 2002.
Lechantre faces his first competitive match on 2 June against Liberia in a 2014 World Cup qualifier.

Mali's Amadou Toumani Toure in Senegal's embassy

Mali's ousted leader is in the Senegalese embassy, Senegal's President Macky Sall has told a press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"President Amadou Toumani Toure [is] at this moment on the territory of the residence of the embassy of Senegal in Bamako," Mr Sall said in Paris.
Mr Toure's whereabouts since last month's military coup were unknown.
The news he is in a foreign embassy comes after the arrest this week of several of Mr Toure's political allies.
'Troubling situation' Mr Toure formally resigned on April 8, as part of a deal for the soldiers to hand back power.
Former Prime Minister Modi Sidibe was picked up by men in military police vehicles and reportedly taken to Kati, just outside the capital, Bamako, where soldiers who staged the take-over have set up their headquarters.
Mr Toure's Defence Minister Sadio Gassama and the man responsible for the ex-president's personal security chief of staff Gen Hamidou Sissoko are also being detained by the military.
"This is a troubling situation," said Mr Sall, who came to power in an election just days after the coup in neighbouring Mali.
He also said West African leaders were "trying to find a rapid and peaceful solution first of all internally so we can return to the normal constitutional regime and then deal with the partition of Mali."
Since the coup, ethnic Tuareg and Islamist militants have taken control of much of the northern desert region.
The Tuaregs have declared independence for the region - a move resisted by the civilian and military authorities in Bamako, as well as the Islamist group Ansar Dine, which is said to have links to al-Qaeda's North-West African franchise, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Mali's interim leaders, President Dioncounda Traore and Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra, have the task of organising elections and ending the northern rebellion.

Senegal expect to name new coach within a week

Senegal expect to name their new coach within the next week, says the president of the Senegal Football Federation Augustin Senghor.

"Will we name him at the end of this week or start of next week," Senghor told BBC Sport. "We have a shortlist, but now is not the time to give names.

"The committee members will meet this week and we will finalise our choice.

"Then we will meet with the new minister for sport to decide who the coach will be for the future."

Senegal have been without a coach since sacking Amara Traoreshortly after their first round exit from the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

The appointment of a new coach, which was delayed by the presidential elections, was originally expected to have been made within the first two weeks of April but has taken longer than anticipated.

"During the election period we thought it was better to wait," explained Senghor. "Now we have the new minister of sport for our country, which was necessary because it is the government official who is in charge of paying the salary of the coach, we will be able to make an appointment shortly."

Although Senghor would not reveal the candidates for the position, he did say that the new coach would be a "charismatic" figure who would command respect from the players.

"We have very good players. Many are playing in the major championships in Europe - in England, France, Spain, Turkey - and I think that if we have a good coach who can manage these great players, we can do well at the next Africa Cup Of Nations in 2013 and also at the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014," added Senghor.

Meanwhile, Senghor is hopeful that his country's best players will be available for selection for their London Olympics qualification play-off match against Oman on 23 April in the English city of Coventry - the one-off tie is for the last spot in the 2012 Games.

"The difficulty for the African national teams is the 23rd of April is not a Fifa date so the players are not allowed to attend this competition if they don't have the co-operation of their clubs.

"It was very difficult, what we did was to visit the managers of all the different clubs and we think we have about 14 players from their teams in Europe to attend this match. Also we have four players in Dakar who will join them in Paris and go to Coventry."

Senghor believes qualifying for the Olympics would be a major boost for Senegal following their poor performance at the Africa Cup Of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon earlier this year.

"We have never played in the Olympic Games and if we qualify it would be an historic moment for Senegalese football." he said.

"It would be a great thing because in the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations Senegal played very badly and went out in the first stage. If we qualify it will mean we have put that difficulty behind us, that we are still alive and we can go on with our football."