Remedy against Mali: what will the Russian national team oppose to the African team

The national team of Mali is the first official opponent of the Russian national team for the March matches of the national teams. Information about the upcoming meeting was confirmed by the Secretary General of the Malian Football Federation, Sidi Bekaye Magassa. In addition, an active search is underway for a sparring team for the second game. Guatemala could have become one, but in the end, this national team refused to come to Russia. Izvestia asked Valery Nepomnyashchy and Vyacheslav Koloskov to evaluate their nearest opponent.

Above Ireland and Ghana

The Russian national team will play its debut match this year on March 27 in Krasnodar. The rival team from the top 10 of Africa is the uncompromising and hardy national team of Mali.

Valery Nepomnyashchy, who is familiar with African football, gave one of the best reviews to the Malians on the eve of the match.

— The national team of Mali is a worthy opponent, a very interesting and serious team, — the ex-coach of the national team of Cameroon told Izvestia. — They performed well at the recent Africa Cup of Nations, with many players from strong European championships. The guys are very physically strong, so it's a great sparring match.

In the FIFA ranking, Mali is ranked 54th, 18 places below the Russian national team. At the same time, it is higher than strong Slovenia (57th place), Ireland (59th), Bosnia and Herzegovina (71st), Ghana (72nd), Georgia (74th) and even some participants of the upcoming World Cup - for example, Saudi Arabia (61st), Jordan (64th) and Cape Verde (67th). Malians are gradually climbing up after 72nd place in 2017. However, it is still on a slight decline — four years ago it was 46th.

At the end of 2025, the Mali national team went to the African Cup of Nations in Morocco. I got there very confidently: first place in the qualifying group with zero defeats and only one missed goal. In fact, KANG has traditionally been in the role of a dark horse. We never lost in the group stage, but the fans didn't wait for any victories either — three draws with Zambia, the Comores and the hosts of the tournament. In the 1/8 finals, Tunisia creaked through — they were outnumbered from the 26th minute, missed in the 88th, equalized from the penalty spot by 90 +6, and in a series of 11-meter shots they did not score two of the first three shots. We stopped in the quarterfinals, losing to the future champions from Senegal (0:1).

The main pain of all Mali fans is that their favorites did not make it to the World Cup again. The Eagles have never played at the World Cup, and were unable to qualify even after expanding to 48 teams. This time we finished the qualifying stage in third place in the group, passing ahead of Ghana and Madagascar.

According to the Transfermarkt portal, the most expensive player of the Malian national football team is Fenerbahce striker Neneh Dorjeles, with €18 million. The 23—year-old striker joined the Turkish championship last summer from Salzburg. In 27 matches for Istanbul, Dorjeles scored six goals, provided eight assists and managed to win the Super Cup immediately after arriving from the Africa Cup of Nations.

There are also more star players — Tottenham midfielder Yves Bissouma, former Leipzig midfielder Amadou Aidara and Paris right-back Amari Traore, known for playing for Rennes and Real Sociedad. Most likely, Russian fans will not see him on the field: Traore is still recovering from a knee injury sustained at the end of January.

A separate focus is on Mamadou Sangara. The 23-year-old midfielder plays in the center of the field of Lens, the leader of the French championship. The African is more often located closer to the support zone and is more focused on defense and destruction — he is in the top 3 of the league in terms of the number of successful selections per match.

"Mali has an average team, not from the very bottom of the world hierarchy," Vyacheslav Koloskov, honorary President of the Russian Football Federation, told Izvestia. — I think this is about our level. It will be an extra opportunity to check the condition of the candidates for the national team. We will be able to see the players who will represent us on the international stage if we are admitted relatively quickly. It will arouse great interest among the fans.

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They could have played with Gambia, but Guatemala broke down at the last moment.

The second opponent of our team in March was supposed to be the national team of Guatemala. However, according to the Telegram channel "Tribune", representatives of the CONCACAF zone refused to come to Russia. This happened after the intervention of FIFA — the members of the international Federation of Football Associations were against the match and influenced the decision of the Guatemalans.

— We won't be able to play Russia in March. We have already scheduled matches with Algeria and Peru. The Russian side made us an offer to play in Russia, but due to preliminary agreements with other rivals, we had to refuse. Let's see if our teams can play this year. Perhaps in June or after the World Cup in the USA," said Gerardo Pais, President of the Guatemalan Football Federation, for Sport24.

The meeting with Guatemala was scheduled for March 31 in St. Petersburg. There's not much time left to find a new sparring partner.

According to Izvestia, there is a chance to play with Gambia (117th place in the FIFA ranking) - the RFU was offered the option of holding a friendly match in March. So far, the idea has been put on hold, but the Africans are ready to play later, so they can return to this option at any time.