Dakar, Aug 29: Bruno Metsu’s tenure as Senegal coach was confirmed to be at an end with around 10 applicants down to take over from him, press reports said. Frenchman Metsu, who took the Senegalese to the World Cup quarter-finals in June, had requested a 10-month "leave-of-absence" to spend a lucrative season with the Al-Ain club side of the United Arab Emirates.

But the Senegalese football authorities turned it down saying that they were against the idea of him taking time off from his job in Dakar. "The page has definitely turned for Metsu," said Senegalese Football Federation (SFF) spokesman Cheikh Tidiane Fall.

Fall said that a dozen names were in the running to take over from Metsu with Abdoulaye Sarr in the job as an interim coach. The Senegalese have a match against Lesotho on September 8 as they open their qualifying campaign for the 2004 African Nations Cup. Bureau Report