Anyone see Sidebe of Mali last night?

RudeBoy · Post by **RudeBoy** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 12:48 pm

The Gillingham striker looked pretty tasty. He scored and had very good footwork and movement.

Mali must be dark horses with Kanoute and Sidebe up front!

The YeyeMan · Post by **The YeyeMan** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 1:23 pm

The boy looked really GOOD! Mali will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in a few years. They may not repeat their semi-final appearance of two years ago but they'll certainly ruffle some feathers.

Ayo Akinfe · Post by **Ayo Akinfe** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 2:21 pm

In 2000, this is how Senegal burst on to the scene and a lot of people thought it was a fluke. Look at them today.

Come 2006, Mali, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be forces to reckon with. I predict that the race for Germany 2006, will be between the following teams:

Mali
Burkina Faso
Democratic Republic of Congo
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Cameroon
Senegal
Nigeria

They are the teams producing awesome talent at the moment.

Ziontrain · Post by **Ziontrain** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 2:28 pm

They also have the other big guy Bagayoko too.

Diabo · Post by **Diabo** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 3:39 pm

Let us not forget the 22 year old Abdelrahman Traore who plays for Ismaily and was the leading scorer in the African Champions League with 8 goals. If Mali has a defence to match its forwardline, they will be formidable.

Akingbade · Post by **Akingbade** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 4:06 pm

They seem more like white horses and red horns to me!

monkeypost · Post by **monkeypost** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 4:13 pm

They will be a force even in this nations cup, mark my words they are determined they are all friends they are on a mission they will not rest till they accomplish it.

Ijapa · Post by **Ijapa** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 5:00 pm

I saw the match as well - He looked really impressive. Don't forget that a match has 11 outfield players.

Larry Ashagbe · Post by **Larry Ashagbe** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:35 am

Sidebe looked extremely comfortable on the ball and looks a cut above the rest.

I reckon Sidebe can mix it with the Premiership boys.

ruff'n'tuff · Post by **ruff'n'tuff** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:46 am

African socer is getting better and better everyday.

bret- hart · Post by **bret- hart** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:51 am

The sooner those at the NFA wake up to their responsibiliy of resurecting Naija football, the better. all those so called smaller African nations are catching up and if we dont take time, they will leave us in the dust. First senegal now Mali, i wonder whose next????

Rogermilla · Post by **Rogermilla** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 1:21 am

Don't forget Seydou Keita of Lens. He is such a joy to watch. With these kind of players, it is difficult to predict who will win the ANC, as most teams seem to be getting their acts together and producing awesome talents. Mali will definately be a team to watchout for during the ANC.

bamenda boy · Post by **bamenda boy** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 1:29 am

Don't panic S.E. If you get your house together, i don't think any team in Africa will be able to smell you guys.

daddyrich · Post by **daddyrich** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 1:36 am

Blah-blah-blah, everyone is shrining Mali and Senegal now but people were calling for Ahmodu's head for his results against them.

Chief Ogbunigwe · Post by **Chief Ogbunigwe** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 3:09 am

Actually, Mali has always had excellent ballers. The problem was that they could not for some reason get their players into Euro teams, awhile their own leagues were poorly maintained. During the 70's and 80's (I know about the 80's for a fact), a great amount of Malian youths went to the former Soviet Union to study. Among them were former club and national squad players. I was honored to have played set with some of these guys who played against Henry Nwosu and co during WAFU tournaments. They had really fond memories of their matches against NNB and other Naija clubs.

mister dolly · Post by **mister dolly** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 6:36 am

daddyrich wrote:Blah-blah-blah, everyone is shrining Mali and Senegal now but people were calling for Ahmodu's head for his results against them.

..and why not..when our so called first class world cup bound team gets played off the park by a bunch of youngsters cutting their teeth on the continental level, of course the coach needs to be called out..

I've never seen Pastor West looking harassed and ragged in a game than against Mali..the guy looked like he was ready to pass out no thanks to a porous SE midfield..

RudeBoy · Post by **RudeBoy** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 2:24 pm

Who played in midfield that day? Was Oliseh there?

La Reussi · Post by **La Reussi** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 2:34 pm

Seydou Keita is actually the engine of the malian team.He was t part of the team that humbled our boys in the under 20 competition a few years ago.He pulls the strings from the midfield.
I don't think they are good enough to go beyond the quater finals though.

La Reussi

Guv007 · Post by **Guv007** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 3:37 pm

RudeBoy wrote:Who played in midfield that day? Was Oliseh there?

JJ was there.

RudeBoy · Post by **RudeBoy** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 3:43 pm

Guv007 so that's why we won!

omey2k4 · Post by **omey2k4** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 5:21 pm

I think people like MD dosent see the clear picture in games.In that game Nigeria still created the best chances at the end of the day we tied them.Then in 3rd place match Nigeria beat them 1-0.MD really though Mali was going to win the ANC.Any teams that outplays their opponents and ends up not winning is crap team.Those are the same reason our U-17 never made it past RD1 at the last WYC.If any senseible watched majority of the ANC matches in 2002,Nigeria did very well and lost to a good Senegalese in the Semi-finals.Mali on the other hand have very good players that graduated from Nigeria'99 and are doing very well now.I wont go and over hype them because it normal on this board.In a short while nobody will be talking about Mali just watch and see.

PC · Post by PC » Mon Jan 05, 2004 6:27 pm

RudeBoy, we drew 0-0 with Mali in the group stage and defeated them in the losers playoff.

mister dolly, yes. Our entire team looked ragged that night. Bagayoko was playing Babayaro like Nintendo while West and Okoronkwo had their work cut out containing Mali's enterprising forward line. Credit to Mali because they employed the pressing game very well and never gave our midfield time to settle on the ball.

geminikoat · Post by **geminikoat** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 7:19 pm

Mali should be good for the Q-finals; Nigeria on average still produce more talents than all the other countries combined; arguably at least! Like Bamendaboy opined only if we could get our house in order, the sky would be the limit.