I just received this old Mena photo, and I got goosebumps!
I'm going to put on my nostalgic robes for the great moments... of Nigerien football to comment on this photo so that our young sports journalists and our young Mena supporters can enjoy it.
This photo was taken on a Sunday evening,
more precisely on June 3, 1995, in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
It was during the second leg of the AFCON qualifiers for South Africa 1996. It should be noted that in the first leg in Niamey on November 13, 1994, Mena beat Sierra Leone 4-2 with a brace from Brah Taher Djibo, who was playing at the time for Philippe Troussier's ASEC d'Abidjan.
It should also be remembered that the Mena, that year, was coached by Soumailla Tiemogo, yes, the same Soumailla Tiemogo "the emperor," the great Soumailla Tiemogo, who 22 years later would become the first Nigerian coach to qualify a team for a FIFA competition, the U17 World Cup! ...
To return to the story of this photo, it was a great team, with great players Hassane Hamidou, Chaleur, Daouda Djibo, Moussa Aria, the great striker Mounkailla Idé, known as M'bappé, and the young Abdouramane Issa Maiga, who was celebrating his first National A team selection that day. I say A team because we must not forget that he was the captain of the Mena U20.
That Sunday, June 3, 1995, was special for Sierra Leone, who wanted revenge against the Mena at all costs. The stadium was packed with over 25,000 supporters.
To galvanize the crowd, but especially to impress the MENA, the three stars of the Sierra Leone team arrived at the stadium by helicopter!
These three stars were brothers, yes, brothers, the "KALLON" brothers: Kemokai Kallon, Mohamed Kallon, and a third whose name I can't remember.
(I wanted to talk about the Kallon brothers to make clear to those who think that a national team must necessarily be full of players from all regions of a country!
No, the national team is not the National Assembly, the national team is the selection of the best players of the moment in a country. They can be from the same club, the same region, they can even be from the same family, as long as they are the best in the country, there is no problem.....)
After the match kicked off, in the second or ninth minute, after eliminating an opponent with a skillful move, Hassane Hamidou set up Mounkailla Idé, who opened the score 1-0, there was a deathly silence, the crowd couldn't believe it. Sierra Leone equalized before halftime, and then Mena sank 5-1 under pressure from the crowd and their star Mohamed Kallon.
Here's a little bit of the story behind this photo!
Niger
