Brighton and Hove Albion’s Yankuba Minteh scores a tap in with his right foot from the center of the box off a brilliant assist by Japanese midfielder Kaoru Mitoma. But it is all about the first touch of Mitoma. Which allows him to play the ball squarely to Minteh with ease.
See the goal and assist by Kaoru Mitoma in the video below. Mitoma unselfishly tees up Yankuba Minteh to open the scoring for Brighton against Manchester United!
Kaoru Mitoma unselfishly tees up Yankuba Minteh to open the scoring for Brighton against Man United! 🤝
📺 Peacock | #BHAMUN pic.twitter.com/tkpajLY4h6
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) January 19, 2025
In addition, it’s a genius long ball over the top to Mitoma by Carlos Baleba. The long ball over the top beats all three Manchester united defenders rushing back to stop the play: Noussair Mazraoui, Leny Yoro, and Harry Maguire.
Moreover, Mitoma takes the soccer ball with the outside of his foot in stride. He even already has his head up looking to see who he can play the ball to.
Brighton and Hove Albion are in 10th place in the English Premier league table. This is in large part to their deadly attack. With a lot of credit going to Mitoma.
Further, for young soccer players this is how you take the ball on the run. Play the ball out in front of you with your first touch and don’t allow defenders to catch up to you.
Overall, it’s a superb and quick counter attack by Brighton and Hove Albion to score the first goal against Manchester United at the Theater of Dreams.
Finally, Mitoma has been dangerous all season for Brighton. Making attacking runs like this and creating goals chances. The stat comes from DataMB. Wingers with the most progressive runs in the English Premier League this season: 93 — Kaoru Mitoma. He is such a dangerous player on the wing. I’m surprised a bigger club hasn’t snapped him up.
Update: Mitoma would go on to score the second goal for Brighton and Hove Albion. Additionally, then they would get a third goal. To sum up, Manchester United fan started leaving the stadium early with 10 minutes left.
