Senegal's coach Bruno Metsu produced few surprises when he named his 23-man squad for the World Cup finals here Friday.

The Frenchman said he was staying faithful to the squad that had won Senegal their first ever World Cup finals place and lost on penalties to Cameroon in this year's African Nations Cup final.

Two players who had been expected to come into the squad 21-year-old striker Mamadou Niang, who plays for French First Division outfit Troyes and 20-year-old defender Mamadou Adama Sarr, who plys his trade with Italian giants AC Milan, failed to make it and were put on standby in case of any injuries.

Metsu, who included just one domestic-based player in third choice 'keeper Kalidou Cissokho of Jeanne d'Arc, defended his choice to prefer the 37-year-old Amara Traore, who plays in the French

Second Division with Gueugnon, to Niang.

"It's not a huge problem his (Traore) age. Everyone has earned his place in the team," Metsu said.

"Everyone deserves his place on account of the results they earned in the 17 months I have been in charge.

"What justifies my selection above all is that the squad that got us to the Nations Cup final and qualified for the World Cup finals were named best African team of the year by both FIFA and CAF," he added.

Metsu also moved to calm down his leading striker El-Hadji Diouf's concerns that they had not played enough warm-up matches -- only a 2-1 win over Bolivia since the loss to Cameroon -- by revealing three clashes before their mouth-watering opener against titleholders France in Seoul on May 31.

The Lions will play Guinea on May 10 in Dakar, then Japanese club side Kashiwa Reysol in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on May 19 and round off their warm-up matches on May 23 against fellow World Cup debutants Ecuador in the Japanese city of Totori.

Aside from France, the Senega-

lese take on 1998 World Cup quarter-finalists Denmark and three-time winners Uruguay in Group A.

SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS: Tony Sylva (Monaco/Fra), Oumar Diallo (Khourigba/Mar), Kalidou Cissokho (Jeanne d'Arc/Sen)

DEFENDERS: Omar Daff (Sochaux/Fra), Lamine Diatta (Rennes/Fra), Ferdinand Coly (Lens/Fra), Aliou Cisse (Montpellier/Fra), Habib Beye (Strasbourg/Fra), Pape Malick Diop (Lorient/Fra), Alassane Ndour (Saint-Etienne/Fra), Khalilou Fadiga (Auxerre/Fra)

MIDFIELDERS: Pape Sarr (Lens/Fra), Salif Diao (Sedan/Fra), Moussa Ndiaye (Sedan/Fra), Amdy Moustapha Faye (Auxerre/Fra), Pape Bouba Diop (Lens/Fra), Makhtar Ndiaye (Rennes/Fra), Sylvain Ndiaye (Lille/Fra)

FORWARDS: El Hadj Diouf (Lens/Fra), Henri Camara (Se-dan/Fra), Pape Thiaw (Lausanne/Swi), Amara Traore (Gueugnon/Fra), Souleymane Camara (Monaco/Fra)

STANDBY: Mamadou Niang (Troyes/Fra), Mamadou Adama Sarr (AC Milan/Ita)