- Mamadou Samassa
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Mamadou Samassa Personal information Full name Mamadou Samassa Date of birth 1 May 1986 Place of birth Montfermeil, France Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Playing position Striker Club information Current club Valenciennees Number 27 Youth career 1996–2003 Red Star Paris 2003–2006 Le Mans Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 2006–2008 Le Mans 43 (4) 2008–2010 Marseille 20 (3) 2009–2010 → Valenciennes (loan) 17 (7) 2010– Valenciennees 18 (2) National team‡ 2007–2009 France U21 6 (3) 2009– Mali 7 (1) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 August 2009.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 2 October 2011Mamadou Samassa (born 1 May 1986 in Montfermeil) is a French-born Malian football player of Senegalese descent who currently plays for French club Valenciennes in Ligue 1. He primarily plays in the lead striker role and is a former French under-21 international, but recently switch allegiances to Mali, his country of origin.
Contents
Career
Early career
Born in Montfermeil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Samassa began his career as a youth with local amateur outfit Red Star Paris. After spending over seven years in the club's youth system, he joined Le Mans Union Club 72 in the next region over initially as an under-18 player. While in the club's academy, he helped the Le Mans youth side win the 2004 edition of the Coupe Gambardella. Following the 2005–06 season, he signed his first professional contract and was promoted the senior team being assigned the number 19 shirt.
Le Mans
Samassa made his league debut on the opening match day of the 2006–07 season against Nice starting in a 1–0 victory.[1] In the just the third match of the season, he scored his first career goal as a professional nailing the equaliser in the 53rd minute against Valenciennes. Le Mans later won the match 3–2 with a late goal from another youngster Ismaël Bangoura.[2] Samassa appeared as a starter regularly throughout the season, despite being only 20 years of age. He scored two goals in two matches against Sochaux and also scored against Sedan giving him a total tally of 5 goals for the season. Le Mans won all five matches he scored in.
The next season was projected to be a breakout year for the player, however, in just the fourth match of the season, Samassa was severely injured. He miss four and a half months and returned to the squad on 19 January 2008 in a 1–2 defeat to Bordeaux appearing as a substitute.[3] He made only 16 appearances that season scoring only one goal.
Olympique de Marseille
On 25 August 2008, Le Mans president Henri Legarda announced that the club had reached an agreement with giants Olympique de Marseille for the transfer of Samassa with Legarda stating the southern club had made a "suitable offer". Marseille, who viewed the player as a perfect replacement for Djibril Cissé, signed the player to a five-year deal.[4][5] Mamadou made his debut for the club on 30 August 2008 in a league match against Sochaux appearing as a substitute in a 2–1 victory.[6] It took him almost four months to score his first goal for the club, which he accomplished against Lille on 30 November in a 2–2 draw.[7] Due to not living up to expectation by some, he was criticize by the local media and supporters alike for his low strike rate appearing in 32 total matches and scoring only 2 goals.
Valenciennes
On 4 August 2009, Marseille announced that Samassa would be loaned out to fellow Ligue 1 club Valenciennes for the entire 2009–10 season.[8]
International career
Despite being born to Malian parents, Samassa chose originally to represent France at international level. He made six appearances for the under-21 team scoring 3 goals. On 6 January 2009, he revealed that he will represent Mali at the senior level. He stating he made the decision after traveling to Bamako to meet with national team coach Stephen Keshi. He also stated that the encouragement from fellow Malian Mohammed Sissoko also influenced his decision.[9]
Samassa waited until May before earning his first call up for joint World Cup-Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Ghana and Benin that was played on 7 and 21 June.[10] Samassa appeared in neither match and also did not make the substitutes' bench for either.
Samassa made his debut for Mali in a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Benin, where he scored his sides only goal in a 1–1 draw.[11]
Honours
- Trophée des Champions: 2010
References
- ^ Le Mans v. Nice Match Report
- ^ Le Mans v. Valenciennes
- ^ Le Mans v. Bordeaux Match Report
- ^ Marseille seal Samassa swoop
- ^ Samassa Joins Olympique Marseille
- ^ Marseille v. Sochaux Match Report
- ^ Marseille v. Lille Match Report
- ^ Accord pour le prêt de Mamadou Samassa
- ^ Samassa Opts for Keshi's Mali
- ^ Mali name 25-man squad
- ^ Africa WCQ Roundup
External links
- Career Stats at lfp.fr
Mali squad – 2010 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Sidibè • 2 Berthé • 3 Tamboura • 4 Sow • 5 Diamoutene • 6 Diarra • 7 N'Diaye • 8 Diallo • 9 Bagayoko • 10 Maiga • 11 Samassa • 12 Keita • 13 Soumaré • 14 A. Traoré • 15 B. Traoré • 16 Diakité • 17 M. Traoré • 18 M. Sissoko • 19 Kanouté • 20 Fané • 21 Yatabaré • 22 O. Sissoko • 23 Maïga • Coach: Keshi
Valenciennes FC – current squad 1 Penneteau · 2 Ducourtioux · 3 Mfuyi · 4 Gil · 5 Schmitz · 6 Sánchez · 7 Lacourt · 8 Danic · 9 Aboubakar · 10 Dossevi · 12 Gomis · 13 Traoré · 14 Kadir · 15 Isimat-Mirin · 16 Leca · 18 Lala · 19 Nam · 20 Angoua · 21 Loriot · 22 Massampu · 23 Saez · 24 Bong · 25 Mater (c) · 26 Cohade · 27 Samassa · 28 Pujol · 30 Brocard · 32 Obin · Manager: Sanchez
Categories:- 1986 births
- Living people
- People from Montfermeil
- Malian footballers
- Mali international footballers
- 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players
- France under-21 international footballers
- French people of Malian descent
- Association football forwards
- Le Mans FC players
- Olympique de Marseille players
- Valenciennes FC players
- Ligue 1 players
- French people of Black African descent
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