FIFA U17 WC – Spain cruise to the final; Mali complained of a goal not given
CAPTAIN OF SPAIN Abel Ruiz scored a brace and a Ferran Torres goal saw the European champions beating Mali at Navi Mumbai in the semi-final. England had pulled a great result to upset Brazil in the first of the two semis earlier in the evening.
A penalty and a great finish by Abel Ruiz saw Spain getting the edge over a physical Mali side. In the first half, Sergio Gomez and Lassana N’Diaye were the closest to give their respective side the lead. It was the Spanish that took the lead via a penalty as Cesar Gelabert brought down in the box. Spain would add another the their tally as Ruiz neatly finished from distance as Spain got hold of the game. A two goal lead at half time meant Mali had to do a lot of work.
The Africans came charging and threatened from some wing plays. Mali should have got their reward in the 59th minute as Doucoure’s stinging shot from distance zoomed past Alvaro, hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced past the goal line and came back out. All in a split second. Although the video replays clearly showed that the ball had crossed the line but there was no goal line technology implemented yet to reconsider the decision by the referee. Protests broke out from the Mali bench and the referee had to approach the bench and even flashed a card to one of the staff members. Mali kept pressing but Spain were calm in the work all around. Spain added a third with 20 minutes to play through Ferran Torres. Mali pulled one back through N’Diaye but it was too late. The final score read, 3-1 in Spain’s favour who marched into the final on October 28 at the Salt Lake stadium to face England at 8 pm.Mali will play the other losing semi-finalist Brazil on the same day and same venue but a 5 pm kick off.
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