Nigeria vs Mali – LiveBlog

We’re still in Group B and it’s must win (or at least must-not lose) for Nigeria, while Mali will be looking to build on that now infamous win over Benin.

Nigeria 0-0 Mali

Group B
Date: Friday, 25 January
Time: 1930 GMT
Location: Essipong Sports Stadium, Sekondi

FULL-TIME No goals but a great game. It finishes 0-0 which is pretty much a disaster for Nigeria. They have one point, Mali have four and Cote d’Ivoire have six. Mali just need a draw against Cote d’Ivoire to go through. Nigeria need to be beat Benin and hope Cote d’Ivoire do the same to Mali.

90+ Kanoute gets a chance but scuffs a shot for Ejide to catch easily.

90+ Keita just standing over the ball. He’s in no rush to go anywhere.

Two minutes to go…

90+ Sidibe wisely takes him time with a goal kick.

90 are up, 3 minutes of stoppage time, very tense stoppage time.

88′ Olofinjana gets his head to a long free kick and nods it down, Sidibe just beat Makinwa to the ball.

87′ Uche works some space and Makinwa gets a shot away. But too easy for Sidibe.

85′ Mali captain Mahamadou Diarra booked for a slide tackle. He was booked against Benin so now he’ll miss the crucual Cote d’Ivore game. Bad bad news for Mali.

85′ Vogts last throw of the dice: Onabbi off for Lazio striker Makinwa.

84′ Now Keita fires one from distance, but Ejide collects easily.

83′ Now Mikel Obi -whi I’m still not convinced is all that – fires one wide.

82′ Seydou Keita beats Yobo and cannons one off the crossbar. Berti Vogts bum must be squeaking overtime.

81′ Mali sub delayed by more jewelry that needs to be removed. Sissoko, who looks exhausted, replaced by a now bling-free Diakite.

80′ Offside again. Guess who…

- replays show he was offside twice

79′ Yakubua has the ball in the net! But he’s offside! Agony for Nigeria.

78′ Utaka was in the box but Mali formed an impressive wall of two defenders chased him out.

77′ Yakubu caught about two miles offside.

73′ Mali switch Traore for Mamadou Diallo.

72′ Olofinjana nods a corner down to Uche, who turns and shoots relatively tamely for Sidibe to collect.

70′ Shittu strikes an ambitious free kick from at least 45 yards away. Sidibe gathers it safely after a deflection.

67′ A draw would do Mali nicely, but they don’t seem to be holding out for 0-0. All credit to the non-super Eagles.

65′ Corner came to Diarra at the back post but he didn’t react quick enough.

64′ It’s liteally end to end stuff as a Nigeria attack turnd into a Mali corner.

61′ Now Vogts has to be concerned. If his team don’t score it goes: 60′ concerned, 70′ worried,
75′ very worried, 80′ panic, 85′ all out panic, 90′ aargh!

60′ Good news is that Sidibe is A-OK.

58′ A mad scramble in the box as Yakubu gets a shot away, which is blocked, and then Sidibe gets a face full of Yakubu’s foot while collecting the ball. Ow.

57′Odemwingie off and Uche finally gets on. Odemwingie not impressed with leaving the field.

56′ Kanoute waits, waits, waits with the ball on the edgie of the box then takes off at pace and goes wide to get a cross in. Nothing comes of it, but Kanoute is immense. A lot like Thierry Henry I reckon.

54′ Seems to be OK now. I’ve paid money for this damn it! It’s back in time for Sidibe to blaze one over when he should have squared it to Kanoute.

52′ Uh-oh. My video feed keeps cutting out.

51′ Dramane Traore is down but no one stops play. Football can be cruel.

46′ Taking Martins off is a big decision for Vogts. Odemwingie has a shot saved, then Keita has one saved the other end.

45′ We’re off. Utaka on for Martins. He’ll play wide, Odewingie (best name in Nigeria’s squad) goes up front with Yakubu. Nigeria have 45 mins to score or their destiny is out of their hands.

HALF-TIME No goals but plenty of action and some good football. Very very tense, especially if you’re a Nigeria fan. They’ll have to go balls out second half.

Excellent brass band tunes coming from the crowd.

Two minutes of stoppage time till the break.

42′ Now Obanni goes down in a very obvious way. That makes it 1-1 in unconvincing dives.

41′ Keita’s great cross is me by a Coulidally header that goes just over. I imagine that if Mali score first Berti Vogts head might explode.

40′ No two ways about it. Sissoko dived.

39′ Shouts for a penalty as Yobo tackles Sissoko, but not given. More merseyside action.

37′ Keita absolutely skins Yobo for pace but then Olofinjana clatters him. Olofinjana booked. Keita made Yobo look silly though.

36′ Coulibaly Kante not so classy. His backpass to the keeper is short and Yakubu nearly intercepts. Very nearly a Titus Bramble moment there.

34′ With the ball bouncing around in the Mali box, Mahamoudou Diarra shows his class with a composed header back to the keeper.

33′ Berti Vogts doing some tactical pointing. I would not trade places with him right now.

31′ Obinna pulls out all the tricks down the left for Nigeria, but couldn’t get a decent cross in.

30′ Seydour Keita gets stepped on. Looks like it hurt.

29′ Sidibie has got the beating of fullback Nwaneri. He’s going past him every time.

27′After a bit of Mali pressue, Nigeria come close(ish) when Olifinjana meets Odemwingie’s corner with a diving header. Wide though.

22′ Martins has his back to gaol but tries to flick it over his head. Where was the overhead kick man?

21 Yakubu of Everton brings down Sissoko of Liverpool. Nice to see the Merseyside derby alive and well in Sekondi.

19 Yakubu gets a low shot at the Mlai keeper. I theoertically like this Yakubu-Martins partnership. Strength and pace.

16′ Etuhu warming up. How he’s not starting ahead of Ololifinjana is a mystery. I love Olofinjana for Wolves (my team) but there’s no way he’s a proper international footballer.

13′ Mali work the ball beautifully into the area. They’re pumping crosses into the Nigeria area too.

11′ Tamboura gets down the outside and drills a shot wide for Mali. The regular Eagles are no less super than the Super Eagles.

8′ Obinna shoots over. Very over.

6′ Yakubu gets through and shoots, but he’s called back for pushing the Mali defender a little too hard.

4′ Olofinjana and Odewingie tackle each other in midfield for Nigeria. Not a great start, teamwork wise. Mali are having most of the ball.

1′ Sissoko getting his first start. And he’s still a Liverpool player. For now.

0′ And we’re off.

-Lineups:

Nigeria – Ejide, Nwaneri, Taiwo, Shittu, Yobo, Obi Mikel, Olofinjana, Martins, Obinna, Odemwingie, Yakubu

Mali – Sidibie, Coulibaly, Diamoutene, Kante, Sidibe, Tamboura, Diarra, Keita, Sissoko, Kanoute, Traore

-Team news: Kanu has returned to England to get his knee looked at. I did not know that.

-Excellent brass band renditions of national anthems.

-Teams are coming out. This is the first game where one of the big boys of the tournament has to pull something out.

Preview

Scout Report – Nigeria

The Super Eagles got off to a not-so-Super start by losing 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire. Berti Vogts isn’t too worried, though his excuse that Nigeria “lost to the best team in Africa” can’t have done much for his players’ confidence. The bigger problem is that despite the wealth of attacking talent available - Kanu, Obafemi Martins, Yakubu, John Utaka and more – Nigeria didn’t really click up front. Similarly John Obi Mikel was expected to shine in midfield, and just sort of didn’t. So will Vogts stick with the same system of using Martins and Utaka wide, with Yakubu as a forward and Kanu behind, and hope it all clicks against a theoretically weaker team than Cote d’Ivoire? Or will he rip it up and start again? Big decision for Vogts today because defeat means Nigeria are finished and a draw will suit Mali, so he needs to go all out for the win.

Scout Report – Mali

Mali didn’t particularly impress against Benin. They looked a little nervy, but got the job done. Questions have been raised about exactly how they got the job done, but let’s assume the best. Big question for me is whether Mali try and hold out for the draw that would suit them, or decide to go for a win. Teams trying to defend haven’t done all that well so far (eg Tunisia) and with talent like Kanoute, Mali may as well push on and take it to Nigeria. That would be more fun to watch anyway.

Performance to Date:

Nigeria lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire, so have zero points in Group A.

Mali beat Benin 1-0, so begin the day joint top of Group A.

Team Blogs: Emmanuel is on top of all things Super Eagle related with the Nigeria blolg. He has a plan to beat Mali.

Brad is covering everything Eagles related on the Mali blog.

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