Kilmarnock v Motherwell: Childhood memories of Mali not enough for Sissoko

Saturday 9 February 2013

THE Africa Cup of Nations has been played in the background of Scottish football.

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Chris Tait

The final of the competition will take place in Johannesburg tomorrow but it is a match which will present only mild interest to supporters and a slight logistical problem for Celtic, Nigeria's Efe Ambrose then left to try and find his way back to Glasgow in time for a Champions League tie with Juventus.

The viewing figures dropped by one more on Wednesday, too. "I've been following every game of my country, Mali - we had a bad game [a 4-1 semi-final defeat by Nigeria]. After the first half I switched off the TV," said Mohamadou Sissoko, the Kilmarnock defender.He was switched on to the idea of one day competing at the tournament, though; the Paris-born defender eligible for Mali through his parents, and he has developed an affinity for the country following a series of family holidays. Those were curtailed as Sissoko began his ascent through the ranks at Udinese – which ended after two seasons on loan at Rugby Park – but he retains an ambition to one day return, preferably with the Africa Cup of Nations trophy following him through customs.His international experience is restricted to a couple of youth matches with France but the 24-year-old has enjoyed steady progress since rejoining Kilmarnock on a permanent contract in October. A match against Motherwell this afternoon offers the latest opportunity to prove it, with a win also enough to draw his side closer to a return to the top six of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. That will seem like a more attainable ambition than lining up alongside the likes of Seydou Keita, Mahamadou Diarra, although his international aspirations are uninhibited by his return to Scottish football."Ambrose went and I know Bobo Balde used to go too. Maybe they will call me soon," said Sissoko. "I have only played for France at under-20 [level] but I have not had contact [from Mali]. Not yet. When I was young I was going there maybe every year in the summer. Now it is maybe five years since I have been there."Sissoko has grown much since then; the strapping defender is now a source of resilience to a Kilmarnock side that has been made to look vulnerable by the departure of three first-team regulars – Michael Nelson, Gary Harkins and Liam Kelly – last month. The visit of third-place Motherwell today will be a stern challenge of their resolve, then, and Sissoko is unabashed as he considers his own task of keeping Michael Higdon quiet."Last week we won against Inverness and we have to keep going in this way," said Sissoko. "I like to play against big strong players because normally they are not so fast and it is good to have this fight. I prefer to play against this type of player than small ones."Size also matters to Stuart McCall, although the Motherwell manager was referring to his squad rather than any individual. Kenny Shiels, his counterpart at Kilmarnock, had suggested that the common perception of Motherwell being short-staffed was somewhat misleading, an arch comment which was met with a broad smile from McCall and a casual quip of his own."I find Kenny interesting and entertaining, I have never had any problems with him, unlike a few of the other SPL managers," said the Motherwell manager. "I had a little smile when I read his comments, I don't know if Kenny believes everything he says himself – I thought he, perhaps, had a few too many sherbets."Since I arrived at Motherwell, Kilmarnock have always had a bigger squad than ourselves. They did lose players in the window and that brought them down to having a similar size of squad as we do. I'm not going to complain about our size of squad though, sometimes it can be a good thing and we have also been fortunate with injuries."They might also think themselves to have been unfortunate with the fixtures, with the trip to Rugby Park bringing only their third match of the new year. "We want to come out of the blocks early and don't want to see signs of rustiness," said McCall.

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Kilmarnock v Motherwell: Childhood memories of Mali not enough for Sissoko

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