Mauritania will have nine foreign-based players in their squad when they travel next week to meet South Africa in their African Nations Cup qualifier in Nelspruit on Friday‚ September 2‚ but the country’s captain Oumar Ndiaye has announced his retirement from international football.

There is a first call-up for Sally Sarr‚ a 30-year-old French-born Swiss-based defender who has played in Switzerland for the last nine seasons.

Ndiaye‚ who plays in the lower leagues in France‚ had played for the national team for four years‚ but with Mauritania out of the running for a Nations Cup finals place has decided to give up.

Next Friday’s match is likely the last for Mauritania’s manager Corentin Martins‚ whose contract is at an end.

Mauritania have one more point than Bafana Bafana in Group M‚ which has already been won by Cameroon. A draw at the Mbombela Stadium will be enough to see them finish as runners-up‚ ahead of South Africa.

South Africa coach Shakes Mashaba has expressed his wish to settle a score against the Mauritanians‚ whose 3-1 defeat of Bafana in Nouakchott in September 2015 was instrumental in scuppering SA’s Gabon 2017 chances.

Mauritania squad

Goalkeepers: Belkeir Ahmed (Zem Zem)‚ Medi Salahdine (Tevragh-Zeine)‚ Brahim Souleymane (Ksar)

Defenders: Ahmed Ahmedou (CD Thader)‚ Abdoul Ba (Racing Lens‚ France)‚ Oumar Ly (Tevragh-Zeine)‚ Wade Mohamed (Nouadhibou)‚ Bakary Ndiaye (Tevragh-Zeine)‚ Sally Sarr (FC Luzern‚ Switzerland)‚ Abou Sy (Nouadhibou)

Midfielders: Khassa Camara‚ (Skoda Xanthi‚ Greece)‚ Yaly Mohamed Dellahi (Tevragh-Zeine)‚ Guidileye Diallo (Nancy‚ France)‚ El Hacen El Id (Levante‚ Spain)‚ Abdoulaye Guèye (Nouadhibou)‚ Bakayakho Moussa (Concorde)‚ Denne Med Tagyoullah (Tevragh-Zeine)

Strikers: Niass Amadou (Salam Zghrata‚ Lebanon)‚ Babacar Baguili (Ksar)‚ Ismael Diakité (Marsa‚ Tunisia)‚ Moulay Ahmed Khalil (Al Ansar‚ Lebanon)‚ Moctar Salem (Concorde)‚ Med Abdellahi Soudani (Moghreb Tetouan‚ Morocco). .