Bobo Baldé

The man that has anchored the Guinea defense for most of this decade is Bobo Baldé. At 1.91 meters Baldé is an imposing physical presence capable of instilling fear in many an attacker. He can be a destroyer at the back and has marshaled championship defenses with Scottish powerhouses Celtic. He has helped Guinea immensely in the nation’s recent run of success including three consecutive quarterfinal finishes in the African Cup of Nations. In all of those tournaments Baldé was a rock at the back for the Syli Nationale.

Baldé is certainly one of the most important members of the squad and at 33 years of age one of the oldest as well. Despite his advancing years he remains irreplaceable. At the Nations Cup in Ghana earlier this year the Guinea defense proved that without Baldé in the lineup they are not the same. In their quarterfinal match against Cote d’Ivoire, the Syli Nationale were without both Baldé and his partner at the back Oumar Kalabane. What resulted was anything but a master class of defending. Rather a defensive catastrophe took place as the Guinea defense repeatedly got eviscerated by the Cote d’Ivoire attack and on numerous occasion left keeper Kémoko Camara at the mercy of players such as Drogba and Kalou. The result was not pretty as Guinea succumbed 5-0 due in most part to atrocious defending.

With Baldé in the lineup in all four World Cup qualifiers this past June, the Guinea defense was back to playing real defense as they only gave up 3 goals in 4 matches with all of the goals being let in on the road. As long as Baldé is in the lineup Guinea will certainly be in with a shot at making the World Cup for the first time in South Africa. Without him the task will be much more immense. The Syli Nationale should be without Baldé in their next qualifying match due to Baldé picking up yellow cards in consecutive matches. But Zimbabwe are not Cote d’Ivoire and thus it is to be hoped that the defense does not capitulate as freely.

At club level Baldé enjoyed great success with Celtic for most of this decade. He was a pivotal member of a squad that won repeated Scottish Premier League titles before his career was derailed with a broken leg during the 2006-7 season. Upon return from injury he was never able to reclaim his spot in the lineup and his appearances became increasingly infrequent. Celtic decided not to bring him back for the upcoming season and Baldé is currently without a club. A move to an English side likely looms. Before Celtic Baldé played with the Marseille youth side but never made an appearance for the senior team and also for French Club Toulouse.

Baldé is French by birth having been born in Marseille but is of Guinean descent and decided to represent Guinea at the international level. Surely part of that decision was based on the fact that it is easier to get caps in the Guinea shirt than it is in the French shirt. No matter what his decision was based on Guinea fans are thankful that he has anchored their defense and hope he can continue to wear the shirt effectively for a few more years.