Netherlands defender Nathan Ake is expecting a tough encounter against Senegal in their FIFA World Cup opener, despite Sadio Mane being ruled out.
Mane on Thursday was ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury before he underwent surgery a day later, Bayern Munich confirmed.
Ake, who is competing at his first World Cup, says the Dutch's mindset has not changed heading into Monday's encounter against the Lions of Teranga.
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"Not only him, but all of the injuries are a negative for the World Cup," Ake told Fifa Plus TV.
"The World Cup is for these kinds of players. I think everyone wants to see these kinds of players in the tournament. So it's not a good thing.
"It's never a nice thing to see when someone gets injured, so he will be a big miss for the tournament. But will still go into the game against Senegal with the same mindset, even though he's not there, but we have to perform, because it's still going to be a tough match."
He continued, "I still think it's going to be a very tough game. They have a lot of well-known players and their strike force is very powerful. Obviously Mane isn't going to be there, but still they have very good players.
"From now on, we're going to analyse them and see how we're going to play against them. So for sure it will be a very tough game."
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