Category: Africa

Mohammed Kudus said he’s as good as Neymar. That’s not looking totally nuts.

The 22-year-old is looking like one of the World Cup’s breakout stars

Mohammed Kudus came to this World Cup full of confidence. Two games in, it’s easy to see why.

Kudus has been one of the breakout stars in the early going, tallying an assist for Ghana in an opening loss to Portugal before scoring a pair of goals in a wild 3-2 win over South Korea on Monday.

The 22-year-old playmaker netted a first-half header to give his side a 2-0 lead. But South Korea struck back in the second half, with Cho Gue-sung scoring two quick goals to equalize.

Kudus was not done, however, and he swept home a 68th-minute goal to complete his brace and give Ghana the winner it so desperately needed after falling in its opener.

Prior to the World Cup, Kudus told The Guardian of Neymar, a player he and his teammates could see in the knockout round: “He’s not better than me. He’s just a higher profile player, that’s all,”

Kudus has made a name for himself at Ajax after his 2020 arrival from Danish side Nordsjælland. The 22-year-old operates as a No. 10 who is equally comfortable scoring goals or creating them. His exploits in the Netherlands has led to interest from big clubs abroad, which will only be amplified by his first two games in Qatar.

Kudus knows he hasn’t reached the heights that Neymar has during his career. But he’s making steady progress and as his first two World Cup games have shown, it may not be a good idea to bet against him.

“What makes [Neymar] better, for now, is that he has achieved a lot,” Kudus said. I’ll get there soon.”

Watch Kudus score two vs. South Korea

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Senegal star Sadio Mane ruled out of World Cup with leg injury

It’s a huge blow for the African champions

Senegal star Sadio Mané has been ruled out for the World Cup with a fibula injury.

Mané suffered the injury in a game with Bayern Munich on November 8 and though he was subsequently named to Senegal’s World Cup squad, a federation official said earlier this week the 30-year-old would miss the “first games” of the tournament.

On Thursday, Senegal team doctor Manuel Afonso confirmed at a press conference that Mané was not responding well to treatment and the forward would be forced to undergo surgery.

“Sadly, today’s MRI has shown that the evolution is not as favorable as we’d imagined, and so we’ve resolved, sadly, to declare that Mané is out for this World Cup, and a surgical intervention will be scheduled very shortly,” Afonso said at a press conference.

Bayern announced later that Mané had undergone surgery in Innsbruck, Austria.

Mané was instrumental in leading Senegal to the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year and hopes were high that he could help his country to a deep run at this World Cup.

Though Senegal still has a strong squad including England-based stars Édouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, Idrissa Gueye, and Ismaïla Sarr, the absence of Mané will be a major blow to the team’s chances.

Senegal has been drawn in Group A with Ecuador, the Netherlands and Qatar, and should still have a strong chance to get out of the group even without its superstar.

But losing a player who just finished second in the Ballon d’Or voting will always be difficult to overcome. Mané’s absence will be a blow not only to Senegal, but to the World Cup itself.

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Sadio Mane will miss Senegal’s ‘first games’ of the World Cup with injury

The African champions may have to make do without their superstar in Qatar

It’s not sounding great for Senegal star Sadio Mané’s chances of playing at the World Cup.

Mané was forced out of Bayern Munich’s game against Werder Bremen last week with a fibula injury, putting his status for the World Cup in doubt.

On Tuesday, Senegal federation board member Abdoulaye Sow offered an update on Mané. It wasn’t positive.

“We will have to rely on playing the first games without Sadio and win without Sadio because we have 25 players apart from Sadio,” Sow said in quotes published by the AP. “No one would have wanted it, but that’s what’s happened to us.”

That’s “games,” as in plural. Senegal, of course, will only play three group games and without Mané, its chances of advancement and a fourth game will diminish.

However, even without Mané, Senegal should still be a force. The African champions feature Chelsea duo Édouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly, Everton’s Idrissa Gueye, and Watford star Ismaïla Sarr, among a host of other European-based players.

Senegal will play Qatar on Sunday in the World Cup opener, before also facing the Netherlands and Ecuador in Group A.

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Missing for over 50 years: Long-lost elephant shrew resurfaces in Africa

For over 50 years, the Somali sengi (or elephant shrew) has been considered a ” lost species” – until now. The furry, mouse-sized creature with a trunk-like nose is still very much alive, according to researchers in a peer-reviewed study published …

For over 50 years, the Somali sengi (or elephant shrew) has been considered a "lost species" — until now.

The furry, mouse-sized creature with a trunk-like nose is still very much alive, according to researchers in a peer-reviewed study published last week in the journal PeerJ.

"While the species is historically documented as endemic to Somalia, these new records are from the neighboring Republic of Djibouti and thus expand the Somali Sengi’s known range in the Horn of Africa," the four authors wrote, adding that evidence suggests the elephant shrew is also a current inhabitant of Ethiopia.

The Somali sengi was last documented by international researchers in 1968. It since made the Global Wildlife Conservation's "25 Most Wanted Lost Species" list.

But people in East Africa easily recognized the animal when shown pictures of it, Steven Heritage, a Duke University Lemur Center researcher and co-author of the study who credits Djiboutians for a large part of the rediscovery, told NPR.

"Now, the international community will have an eye on our biodiversity," added Houssein Rayaleh, an ecologist from Djibouti and co-author of the study.

Their research team set 1,259 traps — made appetizing with a mixture of rolled oats, peanut butter, and yeast spread — in 12 locations throughout Djibouti last year. It wasn't long before elephant shrews were caught.

What is an elephant shrew (or sengi)? According the the American Wildlife Foundation, not an elephant or shrew, but a small mammal closely related to elephants, sea cows, and aardvarks.

In additional to their iconic trunk-noses, they have a hunchback posture and move in a hopping fashion like rabbits. Sengis live in couples (forming monogamous pairs) and their lifespan is about years.

Sengi fossil records extend back at least 45.6 million years — making the species older than animals like lions or giraffes. Analysis suggest that the Somali sengi has inhabited the Horn of Africa for more than 5.4 million years.