Tough road ahead for Mali

After taking a brief look at the case for Groups A, C, and D for being considered the “Group of Death”, I wanted to take a moment now to look at the group that has my interest and the one I believe is the toughest group to advance from in this years Cup of Nations. Not surprisingly of course I’m talking about Mali and their obstacles in Group B.

You could make the argument that Group B has the most individual talent of any of the groups. After all, probably the two most gifted sides on the continent, Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria find themselves in this group.

Let’s start with the Elephants who we are all much more familiar with following their World Cup appearance in 2006. Loaded with talent, they might have progressed farther in Germany if they hadn’t been drawn into another Group of Death with Argentina and The Netherlands. The squad list reads like a who’s who of African football: Drogba, Toure (both of them), Kalou, Kone (both of them), Keita, Zokora, Eboue, etc. Being a huge Arsenal fan, I have seen a lot of Eboue and Kolo Toure and they are quickly becoming top flight players in Europe, if they aren’t there already. Then there is Drogba who of course is arguably the best of the bunch of very gifted African strikers, not forgetting my main man Adebayor obviously. Touted by many to be this years favorite to hoist the trophy, they will be no easy opponent for anyone.

Second we have the Super Eagles of Nigeria. The perennial African superpower, Nigeria boasts a very impressive history and a team stocked with top professionals from Europe. The knock against this team seems to be that individually they are great but collectively they struggle to come together as a team to play up to their potential. Can Yobo, Martins, Kanu, Obi Mikel, Taye and the rest disprove that theory? Well, the tournament has even’t started yet and they have already suffered a setback. Will those injuries be a factor? Will we have to wait for a future Nigerian team to live up to the hype? After all, in the recent U-20 World Cup and more so in the U-17 tourney we have seen that the future still remains incredibly bright for Nigerian football. But something tells me the Super Eagles are thinking about the future only as far as the championship game in Accra on February 10, 2008.

That brings us to possibly the toughest side in the group to predict, the Squirrels of Benin. We shouldn’t be too surprised if this small West African country is competitive after seeing the recent successes of West African football, ie. Senegal, Togo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, etc. As well, with Benin being located only one country over from Ghana they might even have a little bit of a home crowd feel to their games. They do boast some talented players such as Muri Ogunbiyi, Razak Omotoyossi, Stephane Sessegnon, and the popular captain Romuald Boco, but is it enough talent to compete with the powerhouses? Not a team to be taken lightly by any means but at the same time, their qualification out of this group would be nothing short of miraculous.

Now to the team I will be rooting for, the Eagles of Mali. No shortage of talent here and I’m of the opinion this could be the next West African side to really make a mark in the world of International football. With names like Frederic Kanoute (pictured at top), Momo Sissoko, Mahamadou Diarra (pictured), Seydou Keita, and Dramane Traoré, the Eagles should have no problem in attacking and putting pressure on opposing keepers. Their achilles heel (as with many African squads) will be defending their goal, especially against dangerous Elephants and Super Eagles…that’s right, those are not regular eagles but super eagles.

The other interesting note about Mali is that they haven’t often qualified for the African championship but when they do, they tend to do well as they have made it to the big show 4 times and reached the semi-finals each of those 4 times. Can they make it 5 for 5? To do so they will need to take 3 points from the Squirrels and get some kind of result against at least one of Nigeria or Cote d’Ivoire. A victory against one of those two is definitely not out of the question. Whoever comes out on the short end of the clash of the titans on January 21 (Nigeria v. Cote d’Ivoire) will be ripe for the picking and have to deal with a Mali side that will be smelling blood.

The group of death? My West African bias says yes, and the case is surely a strong one. This group will at the very least provide us with the most mouth-watering fixtures of the group stage. Can’t wait to see how it plays out. Now I just have to nail down how I’m going to be able to watch the games.