Published by the government of Zimbabwe
5 January 2008
Harare — Mali have called up three locally-based players in their final 23-man squad for this month's African Cup of Nations finals, the Mali Football federation announced on Thursday.
Goalkeeper Soumbeyla Diakite from Stade Malien and the Djoliba pair of Souleymane Dembele and Amadou Sidibe were added by coach Jean Francois Jodar after failing to make a preliminary list of 28 last month.
All three have previously been capped by Mali at full international level.
The squad is dominated by the Spanish-based trio of Frederic Kanoute, Seydou Keita and Real Madrid's Mahamadou Diarra.
Sevilla striker Kanoute is one of the five candidates for the African Footballer of the Year award, to be announced on February 1.
Jodar has recalled AJ Auxerre defender Sammy Traore, whose last game for Mali was in October 2006
Mali, who have been drawn in Group B with Benin, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria, start a training camp in the United Arab Emirates on Monday.
They play Egypt in a friendly there on January 10 and Iran three days later, the football federation said.
Mali's opening game at the Nations Cup finals in Ghana is against fellow West Africans Benin in Sekondi on January 21.
Meanwhile, Sambegou Bangoura and Ibrahima Yattara have been left out of Guinea's 23-man squad for the Nations Cup finals, named by coach Robert Nouzaret in Conakry on Thursday.
Sambegou, a former Stoke City striker now playing at Boavista in Portugal, and Turkish-based Yattara are surprise omissions following Nouzaret's decision last month to leave former Arsenal and Olympique Marseille striker Kaba Diawara out of a preliminary list of 35.
"I had a list of 35 players and I was obliged to cut my choice down to only 23," he said in a telephone interview.
"Those that I kept have given me more satisfaction than the players I have had to drop."
"I know that we will be up against teams that are stronger than us on the paper but we are not going to the Nations Cup to make up the numbers," he added.
Only one of the squad members, back-up goalkeeper Naby Diarso, comes from a club within the west African country.
Veteran goalkeeper Kemoko Camara is unattached and 19 players are from European-based clubs.
Guinea meet hosts Ghana in the tournament's opening match in Accra on January 20.
Their other first round opponents are Morocco and Namibia.
Guinea reached the quarter-finals of the last Nations Cup tournament in Egypt two years ago.
In Rabat, veteran goalkeeper Khalid Fouhami has been handed a surprise recall to Morocco's squad for the Nations Cup finals this month.
Fouhami has not played for his country for more than two years but was included among coach Henri Michel's party of 23 for the tournament in Ghana when the Morocco Football Federation released the squad list on Thursday.
It was Fouhami's goalkeeping error which saw Morocco beaten 2-1 by hosts Tunisia in the 2004 Nations Cup final at Rades.
Morocco will go into the 2008 tournament without injured midfielder Mbark Boussoufa and have dropped the Spanish-based Mohamed Yaacoubi and former Ajax striker Nourdin Boukhari.
Morocco play Namibia in their Group A opener in Accra on January 21 and also share the group with Guinea and hosts Ghana.
And Zambia midfielder Andrew Sinkala has withdrawn from the African Cup of Nations finals after being hospitalised with a chest infection, the Football Association of Zambia said.
There is also doubt about the availability of the country's other German-based player, defender Moses Sichone, who is recovering from a rib injury and failed to join Zambia's pre-tournament preparations in Spain.
Sinkala is from second division SC Paderborn while Sichone plays at Kickers Offenbach.
Zambia meet Tunisia in a friendly at Rades tomorrow before deciding on their 23-man squad for the Nations Cup finals in Ghana.
Zambia play in Group C at the tournament with Cameroon, Egypt and Sudan, who they meet in their opening match in Kumasi on January 22.
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