24th June 2019: An historical day in African football as Mauritania make their debut in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Despite being the 11th largest sovereign state on the continent of Africa, the North-Western country have barely been a feature of international football, ranked as low as 206th in the FIFA rankings just seven years ago.
But their first competitive contest outside of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and friendlies resulted in a 4-1 drubbing by Mali, incidentally the only game Mauritania lost during the competition.
After racing into a 2-0 lead, Adama Traore netted a third for neighbouring Mali in the 55th minute before being substituted six minutes later. Mauritania netted a consolation from the penalty spot before Mali sealed the points in the 73rd minute. The goalscorer? Adama Traore who had replaced Adama Traore just 12 minutes earlier.
And neither have played for Wolves.
25 years ago...
5th June 1995; Bamako. Adama Traore is born. 28th June 1995; Bamako. Adama Traore is born.
The two Mali internationals have more in common that most – the same name, place of birth, month of birth and year of birth. Representatives of the same national team, they both play in midfield and their paths even crossed 6,000km away from Bamako in a certain North-Eastern city of France. They are also separated by just three inches in height!
After a spell at Lille in France, the younger of the two Malian born Traores, or Adama Noss Traore as he became known to avoid confusion, joined Monaco in July 2015 before making his first Champions League appearance on 4th August that year. Ironically, that very week, the older Traore netted his first CAF Champions League goal for Mazembe, a competition they would win just two months later.
August 2015 was also a defining month in the career of a third Adama Traore further North on the glove. Born in Spain seven months after the aforementioned two but with Malian blood, the third midfielder of short stature signed for Aston Villa.
Joining forces, 4,000 miles from home
Whilst the younger Traore had already broke onto the international stage in 2013, it wasn’t until October 2015 that Noss would make his national team debut. Ironically, the same month that the eventual Premier League star announced he was considering his international options – a continuing thought process for the last four years that has seen the speedster play for Spanish youth teams, declare himself for Mali and be called up by Spain but not represent either.
However, in August 2018, all three would find themselves in Europe. With Noss still at Monaco but failing to make an impact as he was shipped to clubs in Belgium, the eldest Traore signed a four-year deal with French club FC Metz – 12 days after the third Traore signed for Wolves.
But, as was the case with his younger Malian-born peer, the eldest Traore was struggling to make an impact in France.
Metz had been promoted from Ligue 2 as champions but Adama Traore had barely featured, loaned to Orleans that season after featuring just twice. The solution to bolster their Ligue 1 survival hopes in 2019-20? Sign Adama Traore (Noss) on loan from Monaco.
One weekend in October...
Ironically, the two have never featured in the same Metz team together. The eldest Traore has been part of the squad just once this season, a 2-0 defeat to Stade Brest on 5th October, the only time Noss wasn’t in the starting eleven between September and December.
Just a day later, the third Traore netted twice in a 2-0 away win at Manchester City, a landmark moment in his career.
And the beginning of 2020 has again seen the trio take different paths. Traore senior has been loaned to Al-Adalah in Saudi Arabia, whilst Noss has missed a handful of Metz games through injury.
Meanwhile, the starlet at Wolves was named PFA Player of the Month for January 2020 but remains undecided about his international career…