Join For The Isle's Martin Bauman and special guest Abdou Samake as the two discuss Samake’s path from Mali, to Montreal Impact’s academy, to winning the Big Ten with the University of Michigan Wolverines, to finding his form as one of Pacific FC’s stalwart centre-backs.
Samake, on his first conversation with Pa-Modou Kah before joining Pacific FC:
“As soon as you hear somebody who plays in your position, and who played it so well, and had such an amazing career… I’m a student of the game. Even now, for me, I’m just getting started; I’m scratching the surface of my football, so as soon as he spoke to me and [shared] the ideas he had for this club, and also how he wants his centre-backs to play, and the style he wants to play, I knew I had found a mentor.”
3:43: Growing up admiring Ronaldinho, Didier Drogba
4:13: Memories of childhood in Mali
4:49: Moving to Canada
7:38: Joining the Montreal Impact academy
10:12: Becoming a centre-back, admiring Vincent Kompany
13:44: USL experiences
15:04: Playing for the University of Michigan Wolverines
18:48: Ending up at Pacific FC
21:38: Growing pains of 2020 season
26:59: Confidence in 2021
'I'm scratching the surface': One-on-one with Pacific FC defender Abdou Samake