dot   Home     World     Africa     Mali  
Flag Mali

Mali

Time for the Eagles to take flight

   

I knew as soon as the draw was made for this final round of African qualifiers that Mali could not afford any missteps seen as they were in a group with arguably Africa’s best side- the Black Stars of Ghana. They would need to hold serve against Benin and Sudan and hope to somehow nip some points away from Ghana in their head-to-head matches. Neither of those things have happened so far and Mali find themselves on the outside looking in. They got off on the wrong foot by drawing with Sudan 1-1 in March and followed that by falling 2-0 to Ghana. A victory back on June 21 against this weekends opponents Benin restored some hope but it’s almost too little, too late.

For the Eagles to maintain any shot at South Africa 2010 they will need to win their 3 remaining games and hope that Ghana falter at some point. Basically, there is a mathematical chance at qualification yet many would argue not a realisitc chance.

Mali will once again be without Momo Sissoko and Mahamadou Diarra for this crucial match. An interesting addition though is newcomer Mamadou Samassa. The former French junior international is one of those that is benefitting from FIFA’s change of the age limit to commit to a country for international duty. The ruling was changed recently when FIFA met in the Bahamas and Mamadou has since been called up by Mali even though he had been capped by France at the junior level.

Even without key players in Sissoko and Diarra, Mali has a lot of firepower in Freddy Kanoute, Seydou Keita, and Modibo Maiga and I look for them to handle the Squirrels of Benin and keep their faint hopes alive. Final score, Mali 3, Benin 2.


Subscribe

 

rss icon Mali World Cup Team Blog RSS Feed

Print

Share

Comments are closed

 

MORE AFRICA BLOGS

angola
Angola World Cup Team Blog
282 articles | 3,681 comments
 
ghana
Ghana World Cup Team Blog
333 articles | 813 comments
 
togo
Togo World Cup Team Blog
162 articles | 178 comments
 
tunisia
Tunisia World Cup Team Blog
491 articles | 8,939 comments
 
ivorycoast
Cote d'Ivoire World Cup Team Blog
221 articles | 363 comments
 
southafrica
South Africa World Cup Team Blog
90 articles | 188 comments
 
nigeria
Nigeria World Cup Team Blog
84 articles | 463 comments
 
cameroon
Cameroon World Cup Team Blog
50 articles | 195 comments
 
morocco
Morocco World Cup Team Blog
46 articles | 95 comments
 
egypt
Egypt World Cup Team Blog
262 articles | 8,318 comments
 
senegal
Senegal World Cup Team Blog
21 articles | 42 comments
 
mali
Mali World Cup Team Blog
21 articles | 16 comments
 
guinea
Guinea World Cup Blog
29 articles | 55 comments
 
benin
Benin World Cup Team Blog
20 articles | 8 comments
 
malawi
Malawi World Cup Team Blog
483 articles | 4,572 comments
 
algeria
Algeria World Cup Team Blog
138 articles | 3,009 comments
 
gabon
Gabon World Cup Team Blog
6 articles | 7 comments
 
botswana
Botswana Football Blog
7 articles | 315 comments
 

CATEGORIES & ARCHIVES

 

 
Closer

International Football Jerseys
Bet on International Football
Football Tickets
Noticias de Futbol
Tournaments
Euro 2012 Qualifying
Africa Cup of Nations 2012
UEFA Champions League
Europa League

Follow WorldCupBlog on Facebook   Follow WorldCupBlog on Twitter  
World Cup Resources
World Cup History
World Cup Legends
World Cup Memorable Moments
World Cup Photos
World Cup Videos