Defender Aboubacar Keita made his first regular-season start – as well as his first regular-season appearance – for Crew SC during tonight’s road contest against Real Salt Lake. Keita played the entire 90 minutes, making one tackle, six clearances and winning five duels. A Crew SC Academy product, Keita was signed to the First Team as a Homegrown Player on January 22, 2019.
With his start in tonight’s contest Aboubacar Keita became the third-youngest player (19 years, 88 days) to make a regular-season start for the Black & Gold, behind only Tim Ward (19 years, 60 days) and Danny Szetela (17 years, 117 days). Additionally, he also became the fifth-youngest player to make a regular-season appearance for the Club, behind only Tim Ward (19 years, 60 days), Aaron Horton (19 years, 20 days), Ben Swanson (18 years, 319 days) and Danny Szetela (17 years, 61 days).
During tonight’s road contest against Real Salt Lake, Crew SC’s starting XI featured five players under the age of 25: Alex Crognale (24), Niko Hansen (24), Eduardo Sosa (23), JJ Williams (21) and Aboubacar Keita (19). Additionally, Luis Argudo (23) and Artur (23) both made substitute appearances in tonight’s contest, bringing the total of Crew SC players under the age of 25 to feature in tonight’s match to seven.
Next up, Crew SC hosts Seattle Sounders FC at MAPFRE Stadium on Saturday, July 6 [7:30 p.m. ET / Fox Sports Ohio, FOX Sports GO (Stream) / 97.1 The Fan & 971TheFan.com(English); ColumbusCrewSC.com (Spanish)].
