Malians threaten to “kill” Mali’s failing football coach Alain Giresse

While the President of the Malian football Federation (Femafoot), Boubacar Diarra, advises him not to return to Bamako for his own safety, the Mali coach, Alain Giresse, is clearly pushed towards the exit. “The easiest thing for us would be for him to resign,” he said.

It thus smells bad for Alain Giresse. Vehemently criticized for his lame choices during the recent CAN 2017, which was wrapped up by an early  elimination in the first round of the African tournament, the coach of Mali no longer enjoys the confidence of its leaders.

 “Everything depends on the executive committee, we are in the process of thinking, and his contract runs until November 2017,” Femafoot sources said.

But a contract is liable to be rescinded  when the two parties do not agree, the simplest for us would be that Alain Giresse steps down”, they added.

“If he does not want to, we must go to negotiations amicably, hoping that we will find a good compromise,” underlined the President of the Malian football Federation (Femafoot) Boubacar Diarra before the local media.

But for now, the latter has advised the controversial French coach not to set foot in Mali and to remain in France for the time being! 

“No one has forbidden Alain Giresse to come back to Mali, but I cannot guarantee his safety, because the ambient atmosphere in Bamako does not allow him to travel there”.

“We can’t put a policeman behind him on every street corner, so I asked him to wait a little while, as the disgruntled Malian supporters metabolize their bitterness,” Mr. Diarra pointed out.

At the heart of the criticism are the choices of the former French coach to CAN 2017. The 64-year-old technician has regularly been accused of opting for training too cautiously, notably by delaying the much-awaited launch on the pitch of young Malian hopeful player Yves Bissouma.

And even though Mali’s Captain Yacouba Sylla cleared the coach and put forward the logistical problems, the grumbling goes up in Bamako, especially since the Eagles of Mali are ranked last of their group of qualification to the World 2018 with just one point taken after two days.

This electrical context does not augur well for the former coach of Senegal who had hurriedly left the Lions of the Teranga in an equally tense atmosphere two years ago on account of similar scathing setbacks.