The West African Derby…plus Sudan

Mali’s quest to be the next West African country to earn a surprise World Cup qualification is set to enter it’s final stage where the road will have to go through, drum roll please…West Africa. After Senegal’s exploits in 2002, and Togo’s surprise qualification in 2006 mixed with the good showings by Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, Mali appears to be poised to carry the strong tradition of West African football. The Eagles had a relatively easy go of it in the first round of Africa qualifiers dispatching Sudan, Congo, and Chad while netting an impressive 13 goals. Now the task gets tougher. Mali will once again get to tangle with Sudan, who they split their games with in the previous round, and will be joined by the ex-Squirrels of Benin and the powerhouse Black Stars of Ghana. A winnable group to be sure but by no means easy.

There is no doubt that Mali can score goals with the likes of Freddy Kanoute, Mahamadou Diarra, and Seydou Keita on the pitch but the question is can they play defense? Strangely enough though, in the 2008 Cup of Nations in Ghana, Les Aigles only found the back of the net once and that was from the penalty spot. So which team should we expect? Based on the previous round of World Cup qualifiers I would say the offensive-minded Eagles will show their faces and try to win games 2-1 and 3-2 but it’s at least comforting to know that they can play defense, it’s just a matter of what style of football head man Stephen Keshi will be stressing. All I know is there is too much talent on this time not to make a serious run at qualification for South Africa 2010. More analysis of Mali’s group will come later.

Next up for Mali is a friendly against Algeria on Tuesday in France. It’s looking somewhat like a B-team appearance with Freddy Kanoute, Momo Sissoko, Seydou Keita, and Mahamadou Diarra all missing the game due to injury. Here’s the complete squad list named by Keshi:

Oumar Sissoko (FC Metz-France), Soumaila Diakité (Stade Malien), Amadou Sidibé (Auxerre- France), Souleymane Dembélé (Djoliba), Aboubacar Tambadou (Stade malien), Aboubacar Magassa (CSK), Eric Sekou Schelle (Lens-France), Souleymane Diamounténé ( Lecce-Italy), Abdoulaye Camara (Durban-South Africa), Kalifa Cissé (Reading-England), Sidi Yaya Keita (Lens), Alphousseyni Kéita (Le Mans-France), Cheick Fanta Mady Diarra (CSK), Modibo Maiga (Le Mans- France), Cheich Tidiane Diabaté (Ajaccio-France), Mustapha Yatabaré (Clermond Ferrand- France), Sambou Yatabaré (Caen -France), Ténéma Ndiaye (Tours- France), Bagary Diakité (Wiesbaden-Germany), Sékou Camara (CSK)