Coulibally races to jubilate goal

Coach of Cote d’Ivoire’s U-17 team Alain Gouamene has told his boys not to solely depend on top scorer Souleymane Coulibaly.

The Young Elephants battle France on Friday in the round of 16 in the ongoing Fifa U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

With his popularity soaring having scored each and every single goal for the Ivorians, many believe the 16-year-old is reaching the status of an indispensable player – a notion the coach would quickly want to correct.

“If a team wants to win matches it has to count on all its players and not just one of them,” Gouamene told Fifa.com.

“That was the message I told my players before the encounter against France on Thursday. We can’t wholly depend on Coulibaly to move on. It’s impossible. Don’t forget the kid is just 16 and the tournament is yet to conclude,” he explained.

Coulibaly, who plays at Italy’s A.C. Siena youth team, is the author of all eight of Cote D’Ivoire’s  goals at Mexico 2011, prompting local fans to dub him the “New Drogba”, with reports suggesting Real Madrid have set their eyes on him.