Mali goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa compared their Wednesday’s opposition to five-time World Cup champions Brazil after they succumbed to a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the semi-finals of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Durban.

The 22-year-old, who plays for Guingamp in France, said they don’t deserve any blame for such a huge loss because they met a fire-spitting side that could have dismantled any team at the competition.

“I feel the team we played against was Brazil and not the Nigeria we used to know. From my post I was seeing more than 15 green shirts pouring forth against us and not the usual 10 players. They were strong, slippery, focused and pacy,” Samassa told supersport.com.

“We did our best. We heeded our coach’s instructions but they fell below what was needed to stop the Super Eagles. They were winning all the balls, pursuing us mercilessly each time we had the ball and their finishing was always on target and that was their major advantage. They have forwards that can transform the slimmest goal chances.”

Mali will face Ghana in the third place match on Saturday February 9 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Both sides met in a similar situation last year at the Africa Cup of Nations held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, with the Eagles triumphing to claim bronze.

Source: http://www.supersport.com/football/africa-cup-of-nations/news/130207/We_played_Brazil_not_Nigeria_Samassa

I am also wondering...

The boys were so hot to handle.
In fact, am still wondering what happened to the Eagles between their third match and the fifth one, that they sudenly became deadly.

Your comments please...

...And here is my comment

Secret once players train and played together with one mind and spirit, the result will be massive. If Osaze happened to be among this set of players, they could have been division among the players because he will like to fight for other players right that is not used or featured during this tournament.

I give Yobo big credit for organizing his boys well and all of them hid to instructions.

UP SUPER EAGLE, UP KESHAI UP NIGERIA

executinal: Secret once players train and played together with one mind and spirit, the result will be massive. If Osaze happened to be among this set of players, they could have been division among the players because he will like to fight for other players right that is not used or featured during this tournament.

I give Yobo big credit for organizing his boys well and all of them hid to instructions.

UP SUPER EAGLE, UP KESHAI UP NIGERIA

Exactly, they really impressed everyone beyond imagination.
My question is, How suddenly things changed for good, judging from our lacklustre display against Ethiopia.
Did Keshi psyche these guys up, or did they play to prove all the Thomas'wrong.

Wetin Him expect ?

When we have more Men of Good than the entire population of Mali ?

TB Joshua alone can dismantle any team from Lagos.

EagleNest:

Exactly, they really impressed everyone beyond imagination.
My question is, How suddenly things changed for good, judging from our lacklustre display against Ethiopia.
Did Keshi psyche these guys up, or did they play to prove all the Thomas'wrong.

The team just fired themselves up to play Ivory Coast, won, and then blew up from there. They always had it in them. Don't forget these boys held a virtual Spanish national team to a standstill in their Catalan backyard just a couple of weeks to this tourney.

Definitely if they continue like this against BF on Sunday,then Samassa might be right. Probably it will be Brazil & Barcelona combined.

Still looks as if am dreaming. Is this the same Super chicken that was struggling to fly in first three matches. Come on tell me what happened. Am I in wonderland? All things working together for good for these chaps.

EagleNest: Mali goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa compared their Wednesday’s opposition to five-time World Cup champions Brazil after they succumbed to a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the semi-finals of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Durban.

The 22-year-old, who plays for Guingamp in France, said they don’t deserve any blame for such a huge loss because they met a fire-spitting side that could have dismantled any team at the competition.

“I feel the team we played against was Brazil and not the Nigeria we used to know. From my post I was seeing more than 15 green shirts pouring forth against us and not the usual 10 players. They were strong, slippery, focused and pacy,” Samassa told supersport.com.

“We did our best. We heeded our coach’s instructions but they fell below what was needed to stop the Super Eagles. They were winning all the balls, pursuing us mercilessly each time we had the ball and their finishing was always on target and that was their major advantage. They have forwards that can transform the slimmest goal chances.”

Mali will face Ghana in the third place match on Saturday February 9 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Both sides met in a similar situation last year at the Africa Cup of Nations held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, with the Eagles triumphing to claim bronze.

Lol, you never see anything. Just thank God say Emenike n Moses go out.

Dfrenzy:
Lol, you never see anything. Just thank God say Emenike n Moses go out.

Otherwise, it would have been a crushing defeat if Emenike et'al were not removed.

I pray that S.Keshi will focus on getting the CUP rather than getting himself involved in the frenzy of whether to leave Super Eagles after the finals or not.
He is already enjoying his success but should be patient enough to get the big prize first.

EagleNest:

Otherwise, it would have been a crushing defeat if Emenike et'al were not removed.

Exactly.