Africans in Europe: Ntcham increases tally, Coulibaly nets debut goal

Photo Credit - LASK.

Cameroonian attacking midfielder Olivier Ntcham increased his season’s goal tally over the weekend when club side Samsunspor dug deep to beat Bodrumspor 2-1 in the Turkish Super Lig.

In a cagey encounter at the Grey Beton Bodrum Stadium, the home side took an early lead in the 4th minute when Ahmet Aslan had a perfect setup from Enis Bardhi to cut the ball into the net, much to the excitement of the sizeable fans.

Bodrumspor’s celebration lasted just six minutes when VAR adjudged a penalty in favor of Samsunspor in the 9th minute. Ntcham stepped up to power the visitors with the equalizer in the 10th minute.

Samsunspor doubled their lead on the 38th minute after taking charge of the encounter. A well floated ball by Lubomir Satka located Belgium forward Nany Dimata who smashed home the second goal and the eventual winner of the game in the 38th minute.

The win took Samsunspor into 3rd on the league table with an impressive 54 points haul with Bodrum seated 17th on 34 points from 32 league games.

Ntcham’s goal increased his season’s tally to six, one assist from 28 league matches in the Turkish Super Lig. Ntcham, 29, born in France, switched allegiance to play for Cameroon and has gone on to make 16 appearances, scoring a single goal.

He was selected by former Indomitable Lions coach, Rigobert Song for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar before earning a spot in the final 27-man squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.

Elsewhere in Austria, Mali midfielder Ismaila Coulibaly registered a goal as LASK Linz romped to a heavy 6-0 victory at home to Austria Klagenfurt in the Austria Bundesliga.

The home side scored their first two goals within the half time mark with Sascha Horvath and Florian Flecker netting on the 26 and the 42nd minutes respectively.

Linz continued their onslaught in the second half with a flurry of goals from Maxmilian Entrup, who tripled the tally on the 60th minute mark.

Coulibaly added his name to the scorer’s sheet with the fourth, tapping in from close range after a goalmouth struggle in the 65th minute. Robert Zulj and America’s Samuel Adeniran completed the massacre in the 72nd and the 80th minutes.

Coulibaly, 24 has made seven appearances and the goal was his debut of the season. The big win kept LASK Linz on top of the table on 33 points with Klagenfurt seated 5th on the log with 14 points. Coulibaly has one cap for the Mali senior national team after a fruitful outing with the national U-20 side.