Mamadou Diallo, Tampa BayÆs much-traveled Senegalese striker, is relishing his new stature
Just how strong is Mamadou Diallo? Ask Mario Gori, one of the roughest men in MLS. Gori underwent surgery this month to repair knee ligaments he injured Aug. 30 in a collision with Diallo, who was stationary at the time.
ôI think Mario was trying to hurt him,ö said Mutiny defender Steve Trittschuh, whose job description includes tangling with Diallo in training. ôMamadou is just standing there, Gori comes flying in, Mamadou doesnÆt even move, and Gori stops.
ô[Diallo] just looks down at Gori like he didnÆt even know he was there.ö
Many more of DialloÆs collisions are products of his bruising style of play. His prowess and power were hot topics in MLS before the Aug. 16 incident that knocked Metros goalkeeper Mike Ammann out of action.
A few days before, heÆd been sitting out a game because of accumulated yellow cards when he accosted the referee seconds after the final whistle. That earned him another one-game suspension.
ôI never get red card,ö says Diallo. ôIf I have yellow card, it is because of the referee, not the tackles. It is talking to the referee.ö
It is never dull with Diallo, who fell just short of breaking Roy LassiterÆs single-season scoring marks when he finished with 26 goals and four assists for 56 points.
He was also among the league leaders with caution points at 33. He ranked fifth in fouls committed (74) and fouls suffered (72). When heÆs around, arms flail, bodies tumble to the ground, and balls hit the net.
ôI donÆt think Mamadou ever goes out to hurt anyone,ö says Mutiny head coach Tim Hankinson. ôBut you see how big and strong he is. Teams grab him and try to hold him, and he uses his strength to get free.ö
Had Hankinson successfully traded an allocation for Lassiter (traded from D.C. United to Miami during the offseason) in preseason, there probably wouldnÆt be a Big Mama in MLS.
Diallo has fed voraciously on the service of midfielders Carlos Valderrama, Steve Ralston and Eric Quill. ItÆs unlikely Diallo would have scored 26 goals without Valderrama, and itÆs unlikely El Pibe would have set a league record with 26 assists if not for Diallo.
Stopping Big Mama is a primary task for the Los Angeles Galaxy when it faces the Mutiny in the first round of the playoffs.
ôHeÆs a horse, a big, strong player and a very physical player,ö says Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid. ôHeÆs not afraid to throw his weight around and use his body.ö
REVENGE ON LILLESTROM. Agent Pat McCabe steered Diallo to MLS from South Africa, where Norwegian club Lillestrom was on tour last winter. Diallo had endured a stormy 1999 season at Lillestrom, accumulating goals and yellow cards while feuding with Coach Arne Erlandsen.
With eight games left in the season, Lillestrom loaned Diallo to league rival Valerenga, which was fighting to avoid relegation.
In a game crucial to ValerengaÆs survival, Diallo scored two goals ù in a win over Lillestrom.
ôAll the Lillestrom fans ask, æWhy did you loan him?Æ recalled Diallo. ôThe fans in Valerenga like me very much.ö
ValerengaÆs interim coach at the time was Even Pellerud, now coach of the Canadian womenÆs national team. His short stint for Valerenga was also a reunion with Diallo, for it was Pellerud who had first brought the Senegalese striker to Norway in 1997 when he was coach of Lillestrom.
ôI saw a tape of this man doing fantastic things, with speed and skills,ö recalls Pellerud. ôI decided to sign him, and it was a great risk, the first time IÆd ever signed a player without seeing him [in person].
ôI met him at the airport, took him straight to training, and it was a disaster. He is a man who needs to be comfortable, to have his place to live. Once he had that, he began to score.ö
Pellerud says that in his first game for Lillestrom Diallo scored a goal and was sent off with two yellow cards. It was a pattern to be repeated after Pellerud was sacked three months later.
ôHe has been around, because you have to talk with him, you have to build a relationship and a confidence,ö says Pellerud. ôNot many coaches in Norway can do that. And they always talk about the team. He is an individual.ö
Norwegian clubs have a limit of one non-European Union player per team, and Lillestrom decided to use that spot on another player.
AN UNCLEÆS SOUND ADVICE. Most Senegalese players drift towards France because of the common language. Some, such as Ibrahim Ba, have taken French citizenship.
An exception is striker Souleyman Sane, who scored 51 goals in the German Bundesliga from 1988 to 1994. He also advised Diallo.
ôYou donÆt get good money in Africa and if people donÆt see you, you have no chance to go to Europe,ö says Diallo, who left Dakar to play for Moroccan club Marrakech in 1993, when he was 22.
ôWhen I was 16, 17, I want to go to Europe. My uncle, he tell me to wait, and it was the right advice. If you go on your own, maybe you donÆt get good living situation, you donÆt get good money, maybe you donÆt play.ö
Diallo has little trouble expressing himself in English, which he learned in Norway. The warmer weather in Tampa suits him, and he and his wife are expecting their first child.
He says his Mutiny teammates started calling him Big Mama after they saw the movie ôBig MamaÆs House.ö
The nickname carries special meaning for Diallo aside from being catchy. He has bought houses in Senegal for several relatives, including his mother, who wasnÆt always so receptive to him playing soccer. His father ù ôHe never play, but he like football very muchö ù died two years ago.
ôIf I went to play soccer and I come home,ö Diallo says, ômy mother would beat me because she never wanted me to play soccer. She wanted me to be in school.ö
She doesnÆt know about his nickname. ôShe never hear it,ö he says. ôThat Big Mama, he controlled all the city. They should call me Big Mama because I control all the goals in the city.ö
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney