Football: Mali hoping to make name known

Mali have provided one of the highlights of the Under-20 World Cup. Photo / Getty

Mali striker Saliou Guindo believes it's his team's duty to win the Fifa Under-20 World Cup for his country.

Few can quite believe how far Mali have progressed in the tournament, especially as they qualified only after scoring two late goals in their final African qualifier to sneak through, and their 4-3 penalty shootout win over Germany in the quarter-finals sent shockwaves throughout world football.

Only Serbia stand between Mali and the final and the potential still remains for an all-African final with Senegal taking on Brazil in the other semifinal.

"It's our dream to win this competition," Guindo said. "Our country would be known around the world. Many countries don't know about us and many people sometimes ask us, 'what's Mali?'"

Mali is a landlocked country located in Western Africa with a population of more than 15 million but they've never qualified for the Fifa World Cup and their best performance in the African Cup of Nations were two third-place finishes in 2012 and 2013.

Their recent crop of players have included talented stars like Seydou Keita, Frederic Kanoute, Mahamadou Diarra and Mohamed Sissoko who've played for some of England and Spain's top teams including Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

Serbia and Mali were in the same group and met earlier in the tournament, with Serbia prevailing 2-0, but Guindo remains positive ahead of tomorrow's game at North Harbour Stadium.

"We know that tomorrow will be a difficult game but we can do it," he said. "They have a good team and we know that tomorrow will be different because it's a semifinal. I know that it's possible for us to win this game.

"It's a great pleasure for us to come here, especially in Auckland and we are very happy to be here. New Zealand is a great place and we enjoy it."

Mali reached the last 16 by qualifying from Group D as one of the best third-placed teams before they beat fellow Africans Ghana 3-0 to set up their quarter-final meeting with Germany.

Beating the Germans has given Mali belief they can go all the way and better the third-place finish they achieved in the competition in 1999.

Guindo knows the importance of performing well in this competition as scouts from the world's biggest clubs watch on looking for promising young talent.

"Ask Lionel Messi and the many players who've played in this competition," he said. "It's our dream to play in Europe and everybody will know us in the future."