Who is Mane? The striker who scored 44 seconds on the field

Taking to the field of your national team in the World Cup and scoring a goal with your first touch of the ball is every footballer’s dream, and Kolo Mwani was no different. But a month ago, he did not even dream of being in the cup, after coach Didier Deschamps called up the French national team a few days earlier and had already started his preparations for Qatar. At the time, six days before the opening of the cup, striker Christopher Nkunku suffered a knee injury, while training at central Clairefontaine.

Mane, who was in training in Japan with his team Eintracht Frankfurt, received a call from the French coach asking him to join the team in Qatar. In the first two matches, the team did not have any chances to enter the field. In the third match, against Tunisia, he gets his first chance, and soon plays as a starter. France, already seeded, was defeated 1-0 and the reserve team did not show good football.

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As the French advanced from the stage, they had goals from Mbappe and Giroud, two highlights of the cup. In the semi-finals, against Morocco, Theo Hernandez opened the scoring after 4 minutes of play. Kolo Mwani entered the match in the 34th minute of the second half in place of Dembele, and 44 seconds later, with his first touch of the ball, scored the goal that definitively put France into the cup final.

At the age of 24, Moani left the French city of Nantes in the middle of this year, after his contract expired, and moved for free to Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt, which competed in the current season for the Champions League title. For the champions, he participated in all group stage matches and scored two goals, helping Eintracht qualify for the round of 16. In the Bundesliga, he scored 5 goals and gave 10 assists in the season.

If three years ago Kolo Moani played in the third division of French football, where he played on loan for the American club Boulogne, and a month ago he could not imagine being in Qatar, now he has a goal in the semi-finals of the World Cup in his country. Name, and if consistent as Deschamps’ offensive option.