From the "You never know when your chance is going to come" department comes word out of Ghana that Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul is starting for Senegal in today’s decisive African Nations Cup group match against South Africa after veteran starter Tony Sylva was suspended (along with El-Hadj Diouf) for staying out late.
Things don’t look good for Senegal. The match is in the second half and is tied at 1-1 while the Angola-Tunisia match is also tied, 0-0. Senegal needed a win and anything but a draw in the Angola-Tunisia match to advance to the ANC quarterfinals.
Regardless of the final outcome, the match is invaluable experience for the 25-year-old Coundoul.
Can anyone who saw the match tell us how he played? The BBC coverage sounded like he made at least one great save (and he got hurt, too): link to news.bbc.co.uk
Well, looks like Senegal’s out. Too bad for them, always did like the Lions of Teranga (“hospitality” in Wolof). Great experience for Condoul. Hopefully the game helped him in dealing with crosses a little better.
I saw the last 20 minutes. Bouna made two huge saves and almost got beat on a wierd cross/shot that hit off the inside of the post. He did good to get a foot on that as well after the deflection. From what I saw, he looked pretty good. I didn’t see the goal, though.
Good for him, at least he’s got a little big time international experience now.
BounaTime has been Colorado’s best kept secret. Bouna’s performance today will certainly lead to his departure from MLS in the future.
Bouna helped me complete a challenge on fifa08 (score w/ a goalkeeper).
Apparently he’s the fastest GK in MLS, the mexican league, and the brazilian league. Who knew?? haha It was a beauty of a goal too.
He was singled out for making several key saves on a few articles. I think MLS should look to recruit more African players there is a lot and I mean a lot of quality there and it would not hurt to have a few more guys like Bouna and Ngwyena come by and gain some experience.
Good for Bouna! A match report here says he mad a number of key saves to keep Senegal in the game…
link to soccernet.espn.go.com
I know the Revs recently grabbed two Gambian youth internationals and snagged a Kenyan youth international and a Zimbabwean youth international in the supplemental draft. All four are attacking players. Time will tell if they can produce.
I watched and he played fantastically, saved the game and really gave Senegal a chance to advance.
I’m with Dave on recruiting in Africa: Lots of skill available at low prices.
Airline tickets to Africa aren’t cheap, the jet lag is rough and the infrastructure makes it slow to get around.
The MLS should look into hiring local scouts to help them find talent. It will be a long time before coaches will be able to make the trip to look for talent like they currently do south of the border.
This is who’s coming to play us next week:
link to esmas.com
here are two of his saves — both are fantastic! the videos may take a while to load, but it’s worth the wait.
link to d1g.com
link to d1g.com
those were some awesome saves. thx wro
Agreed..amazing saves
The kid got skill. Thanks for posting the the videos, wro. Sat right behind the net for a Colorado game this year and was impressed. Good to see him getting the opportunity on the international stage.
Whoah! Thanks, wro. Talk about instinctive goaltending! That first save was Spiderman-like, that second one was so close-range most keepers wouldn’t have even left the ground!
I don’t know much about Bouna – If he’s above average in passing and positioning, he’s bound for glory.