Mamadou Samassa Called Up With Mali…

By: Magnusson | May 21st, 2009

For the first time in his career, Mamadou Samassa (23, 19 matches in Ligue 1, 2 goals) has been called up with the Mali National Team in order to play against Mali and Benin, respectively on June 7th and 21th. Both matches will be apart of the third and last round of the joint qualifiers of the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

In the Mali team we will also find players such as Mohamed Sissoko of Juventus who will be back in time for the matches but nothing guarantees he will be fit to play the games themselves. It’s nevertheless a welcome return for the natural leader who will help Stephen Keshi’s team gain the six points they need to take the lead against Sudan with whom they share the first spot.

As for Samassa, it will definitely be a good way to showcase his talents since there is no way he’ll play for us again this season. Samassa was just not ready to play for such a big club and the pressure of the fans in the Velodrome made him look like a Division IV level player. He has never managed to be a Brandao and that was exactly what he was recruited for. For him the objective will be to relaunch his career next year. At only 23, he’s got a few more seasons to become a great player. Kinda like his own National Selection teammate Frederic Kanouté who was considered a waste when still at Lyon.

Samassa himself is such a great player that it doesn’t seem faitr that he wouldn’t have the career he deserves becaus of expectations too high for his own talent. Maybe choosing to play for Mali after being a France U-23 international will be one of the better decisions he’s made so far.

Here are the 25 man list: Mahamadou Sidibé (Ethnikos, Greece), Oumar Sidibé (FC Metz, France), Adama Coulibaly (Auxerre, France), Souleymane Diamouténé (AS-Rome, Italy), Cheick O. Ballo (ASKO, Mali), Boubacar Sidiki Koné (Fes, Morocco), Drissa Diakité (Nice, France), Adama Tamboura (Helsingborg, Sweden), Modibo Maïga (Le Mans, France), Seydou Keïta (FC Barcelona, Spain), Mamadou Diallo (Le Havre, France), Frederic Oumar Kanouté (FC Seville, Spain), Mustapha Yattabaré (Clermont-Ferrand, France), El Hadj Mahamane Traoré (Nice, France), Bakaye Traoré (Amiens, France), Sambou Yattabaré (Caen, France), Bakary Soumaré (Chicago Fire, USA), Mohamed Lamine Sissoko (Juventus, Italy), Souleymane Dembélé (Djoliba AC, Mali), Cheick Tidiane Diabaté (Ajaccio, France), Amadou Sidibé (Auxerre, France), Soumbeyla Diakité (Stade malien de Bamako, Mali), Mahamadou Samassa (Marseille, France), Djimy Boubou Kébé (Reading, England), Lassana Fané (El Merrieck,Sudan).