A Nigerian journalist who has been to every Nations Cup since 1983 looked downcast when he spoke of the organisation at Mali 2002. "It's the worst I've been to," he declared.

That opinion seems a little harsh when against the view of the majority I spoke to who think that Mali is doing it's best to host a tournament bigger than any event it has put on before.

The people of Bamako have embraced the tournament. The signs of CAN 2002 are all over the city and everywhere the red, green and yellow of Mali stands proud.

A close second are the colours of Senegal. If Mali go out the people will almost certainly adopt the Senegalese as their own. Khalil Fadiga, Senegal's midfielder acknowledged the link between the two countries.

"We are very happy because Mali and Senegal are the same. We had a lot of Mali people come to support us and Senegalese as Senegal is not so far from Mali."

The problems have been relatively few. One major one is the traffic leaving the 26 March Stadium. The Modibo Keita stadium had no problems with 30,000 after Senegal played, but the streets were enmeshed in a traffic jam for hours after the opening game at the 26 March Stadium.

It remains to be seen what this tournament means for the Malian people and whether it can be judged a success. Opinions vary.

Mohammed, a taxi driver, told me: "It is a big thing for Mali, this
tournament. Why? Because we love football. I don't think it can do anything else for the country."

David is a freelance journalist from France who is covering the tournament from a social perspective. He says: "New roads, stadia, and hospitals are part of the newly built infrastructure. You'll have to come back in two to three years to see if it has made a difference."

Going further he says the people on the street that he has spoken to don't see things in terms of what CAN 2002 will do for them. Instead they rejoice simply in seeing Mali as the centre of attention for not just Africa, but much of Europe as well.

Attendances have been poor except when Mali and Senegal have played despite an ambitious attempt by the hosts to get the people of Bamako to form an allegiance with other teams. The teams have been spread around the city and each district has been encouraged to adopt a team. Algeria, for example, have been adopted by Quarter Four which is where they are based.

Christian is a local journalist. "People are supposed to come whether Mali are playing or not. It's a question of local pride as this is the first time CAN has come to Mali. I can think of two reasons why the stadia are empty for most games. People don't like to come to the stadium because they think it will be rough and there will be a lot of fighting. They also like to bring their TVs out and then just sit around them in a group and watch football. Perhaps they don't want to spend their money."The organisers are certainly trying to combat the first of Christian's reasons with beefed up security. The fans have to enter the stadium through a tight security cordon and young fans are body searched thoroughly.Mali is not the first of Africa's poorer nations to host the CAN and following in the footsteps of Burkina Faso means a blueprint can be established for the future.