Rafael Benitez, Sissoko’s coach at Liverpool, believes that Sissoko has a great future ahead of him. “He could be better than Vieira. I don’t want to put pressure on him, but I believe he could surpass him because he runs a lot more than Vieira,” says the Spaniard. Benitez is very knowledgeable about Malian footballers, having previously coached Djimi Traore (now of Portsmouth), who became the first footballer from Mali to win the UEFA Champions League after lifting the trophy with Liverpool in 2005.
Diarra had no difficulty in choosing to represent the country where he was born and grew up: “For me, it is very important to wear the colours of my country’s flag on my wristband, which I wear during all matches to show that I am proud of my people.” Sissoko and Kanoute, on the other hand, were faced with the more difficult task of choosing between France, their country of birth which they had represented at U-21 level, and Mali, where they had family roots. “It was a difficult decision for me, but in the end I followed my heart. France won the World Cup in 1998 and have players that are known all over the world, whereas Mali are just starting to grow. I’m proud of my decision,” says Sissoko.
Kanoute’s decision was even harder to make because he had already been selected for France’s provisional squad for EURO 2004 in Portugal. “Because of my dual background, it was a difficult choice, but playing for Mali brought me closer to what I had always wanted – to help the underprivileged,” says Kanoute.

After that period, in which it seemed that they were destined to play an important role in African football, Mali went into the doldrums between 1972 and 1994 before rekindling fans’ hopes by qualifying for ACN 1994 and reaching the semi-finals, where they lost to Zambia. Five years later, in 1999, Mali came third in the FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria with a team including Mahamadou Diarra, Seydou Keita, who was named player of the tournament, and Mahamadou Dissa, who was second-highest scorer with five goals.
These young players led to high hopes for Mali’s prospects as hosts of ACN 2002, yet once again they fell at the semi-final stage, this time losing 3-0 to Cameroon in Bamako. Following on from the successful third-place finish at the World Youth Championship in Nigeria, Mali fans were given a further boost when players such as Frederic Kanoute, Mohamed Sissoko and Djimi Traore, among others, decided to declare for Mali in 2004, despite having been born in France. Kanoute, Sissoko and Traore were born on the outskirts of Lyons, Troyes and Laval respectively and had even played for France at youth level before opting to represent Mali.
The trio’s international debut against Kenya in ACN 2004 could not have gone better: Mali ran out 3-1 winners with a brace from Kanoute and one from Sissoko.
One year later, in July 2005, the president of the Malian FA, Tidiane Niambele, was defeated at the association’s extraordinary congress by the legendary Salif Keita, who became the country’s top football official. Keita has a difficult task ahead of him, which includes resolving the paradox of Malian football, which possesses one of the biggest pools of talent but has underachieved at international level, a similar case to Spain in Europe or Colombia in South America.
“For some years now it has been said that, on paper, Mali have one of the best teams on the continent. If that is the case, why don’t we ever win anything?” enquired Malian Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi Maiga a few weeks ago. For Mahamadou Diarra, the midfielder signed by Real Madrid from Lyon for GBP 17.5 million, the reason why the Eagles have yet to take to the skies is that they have yet to blend their prodigious individual talents into a team. “On paper, we have the same quality as Cote d’lvoire or Nigeria, but to triumph we need to gradually get to know each other better and play as a team,” says the Real Madrid player. Whereas Diarra is compared to Claude Makelele, particularly since he has been at Real Madrid, where the Frenchman also played, Sissoko is said to be the new Patrick Vieira.

Mali’s maiden flights were highly promising, with a successful period between 1960 and 1972. After that, the national team went into decline and has only now recovered its optimism thanks to players like Diarra, Kanoute and Sissoko. In 1965, Mali reached the final of the African Games against Congo, a goalless draw following which Congo were awarded the trophy due to their being awarded a superior number of corner kicks (ten to Mali’s six). A year earlier, Stade Malien were losing finalists in the African Cup of Champion Clubs, a feat which was emulated two years later by Real Bamako. The best result in the history of the national team was reaching the final of ACN 1972 in Cameroon, which they lost 3-2 to Congo.
In those years, Mali had Salif Keita in their ranks, a forward who in 1970 was the first ever winner of the African Footballer of the Year award and played for St Etienne, Marseille, Valencia and Sporting Lisbon before finishing his career in the USA.