Mali vs. Benin…a preview

With kick off less than 24 hours away I suppose it’s time to get psyched for this game.

When: 1930h GMT

Where: Sekondi, Ghana

The opponent: The Squirrels of Benin. Needless to say, Benin shouldn’t really bring any surprises to the game against Mali. The two West African sides are quite familiar with each other after qualifying for the ACN from the same group at the expense of my beloved Togo. The two meetings between the teams both ended in draws, 1-1 in March 2007, and 0-0 in June 2007. So Benin is a pretty equal opponent, right? Well, looking at the squad list on paper one would think that the Squirrels are over-matched but small West African nations should never be under-estimated, isn’t that right France?

But I digress…all that to say that Mali could pay a big price for looking past Benin. With two giants lurking in the next two games, Mali needs to stay focused on the threat Benin poses. Although Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire are the giants to be slayed, the Squirrels could in fact be the ones to keep Mali from progressing.

Possible starting 11: This is going to be total guesswork on my part as I am learning about Mali on the fly and man is it hard to find information on the internet about this team. So, if you have any thoughts or insight on a possible formation and/or starting eleven, by all means let me know. For the sake of argument and simplicity I’m going to give my opinion on who the starting eleven will be and wait till tomorrow to see what formation they use.

In goal I’m going with the experience of Mohamadou Sidibe, although the younger Soumbeyla Diakite could supplant him.

The back four should look something like this: Adama Coulibaly and Cédric Kanté in the middle with Moussa Coulibaly and Sammy Traore possibly completing the quartet.

The midfield is a definite strength of this squad with Momo Sissoko and Mahamadou Diarra anchoring the middle and Seydou Keita on the right and possibly veteran since ‘93, Bassala Toure. If skipper Jean-Francois Jodar decides to go with youth over experience than we will see Drissa Diakité instead of Toure.

Up front the man is undoubtedly Freddy Kanoute. His partner will either be Dramane Traore who notched 3 of the 4 Mali goals in recent friendlies against Senegal and Algeria, or Mamady Sidibe who partnered successfully with Kanoute in qualification.

Keys to the game: This isn’t rocket science, Mali need their stars to be at their best. The question I have is which defensive team will show up: the one who only conceded one goal in six qualifying games or the one that gave up 7 goals in three games to Senegal, Algeria, and Egypt? Hopefully the former as you would think this team won’t have any problem generating offense. The strong offensive African teams often struggle with defensive lapses and paying attention to the counter-attack, as witnessed by Ghana who controlled the game against Guinea but at times looked shaky on the back end and almost didn’t come away with the 3 points…Mali can’t afford to fall into that category.

Necessary Outcome: Anything less than 3 points for Mali will be a big disappointment and make it very difficult for them to progress from a very difficult group.

Predicted Outcome: Call me optimistic but I think Mali will play a strong game and get goals from Keita and Kanoute en route to a 2-0 victory.

Have a quick read of this article to see what Kanoute and Romauld Boco had to see heading into Monday’s first game.

What say ye?