U-17 World Cup: Mali eliminated with regrets in semi-final against France
Last African representative at the U17 World Cup, Mali fell this Tuesday, November 28 in the semifinals in front of France (1-2). An elimination that comes with regrets for the Aiglonnets who had opened the scoring.
Mali's U17 team. (File image). © Courtesy of FIFA
By: Ndiasse Sambe Follow
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The adventure came to an end, along with the dream of playing in a second final for the young Malians. The Aiglonnets were eliminated Tuesday in the semifinals of the U17 World Cup by France (1-2) and they will have something to feed immense regrets. Soumaïla Coulibaly's colts controlled the match for a long time before letting it slip through their fingers. On the pitch of the Manahan Stadium in Surakata, the turning point probably came in the 55th minute with the sending off of defender Souleymane Sanogo.
The young Malian was sent off after a nasty foul on Les Bleuets left-back Aymen Sadi. At this point in the match, Mali were ahead and had been leading since the end of the first half (45+4) thanks to a goal from their captain Ibrahima Diarra. France, who had not conceded a goal since the beginning of the competition, were stunned against a team that controlled the debates.
🇫🇷🇲🇱 MALI OPEN THE SCORING!
Captain Ibrahim Diarra scored the first goal of the match against Les Bleuets, just before half-time ⚽
The match live: https://t.co/4aKX3vuX6w#lequipeFOOT pic.twitter.com/b8j99Eao0n
— L'Équipe (@lachainelequipe) November 28, 2023
And then came the 55th minute! Worse with the ensuing free-kick, Les Bleuets equalised with a header from Yvann Titi (56'). Double whammy!
With ten men, Mali resisted well, but had to concede once again on a well-executed free-kick by Ismail Bouneb (69'). Until the end, Diarra and his team pushed for an equaliser, even hitting the crossbar from a Hamidou Makalou free-kick (89').
Mali stopped there and did not win its first World Cup like Ghana (2 titles) or Nigeria (5 titles), the only African countries to be crowned in this U17 category. Les Aiglonnets will play the third-place match on Friday against Argentina, who were beaten by Germany (3-3; 2-4 on aggregate) in the second semi-final.
France-Germany will be the poster of this 19th U17 World Cup this Saturday, December 2 to succeed Brazil.
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