
4. Wing/FWD – Sékou Koita, Mali, 19.6, FC Liefering (Austrian Bundesliga)
(Yes, that’s Sadio Mané playing vs. Mali in the picture).
This one’s a bit off-the-cuff, but it’s hard to ignore the production.
Sékou Koita’s three goals and three assists in this tournament is excellent, but it’s the level of competition he’s doing it against that makes it so impressive. Against Saudi Arabia he scored once and assisted on two other goals in a 4-3 victory. Against France, Koita scored. Furthermore, he nailed his penalty kick in Mali’s quarter-final advance over Argentina, wherein he played the entire 120 minutes (and registered an assist).
And again vs. Italy, Koita scored against the aforementioned Alessandro Plizzari when Mali were down to 10-men.
Sekou Koita's goal for #Mali v Italy the other day, featuring a nice back-heel assist from Ibrahima Kone https://t.co/mufgLDhUmP
— James Nalton (@JDNalton) June 9, 2019
Sékou Koïta is really good. Equalises for #Mali vs France with a rocket off his left boot. His second of the tournament, and the first conceded by France 🇲🇱⚽️ #U20WC https://t.co/eEOAOZ438g
— James Nalton (@JDNalton) May 31, 2019