France and Mali, colonizers and colonized, will star in one of the semifinals of the U-17 World Cup in Indonesia, in which the Argentine national team, coached by Diego Placente, also continues to compete. The Europeans advanced to that stage on Saturday by defeating Uzbekistan 1-0 at the Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, while the Africans beat Morocco 1-0 at the same venue.
After a first round in which they paraded and were left with no difficulties with the first place in group E, theFrench had to work hard again to end up celebrating, as had happened in their duel in the round of 0 against Senegal, which they won on penalties after a 0-<> draw.
Ismail Bouneb's point-blank shot from the edge of the six-yard box, after Mathis Lambourde's header was repelled off the crossbar, gave the winning goal seven minutes from time to the side coached by Jean-Luc Vannuchi, European runners-up in the category.
The Bleuets, who have kept a clean sheet in their five appearances in this competition, remain in the race for their second U-17 world title: their only consecration was in Trinidad and Tobago 2001. Instead, the defeat marked the end of the adventure of one of the tournament's surprises: in their third appearance at an ecumenical tournament, the Uzbeks equalled their best performance and, along the way, had the pleasure of eliminating European champions England in the round of <>.
FRANCE GOAL! ⚽🇫🇷
👉 Ismael Bouneb took advantage of the rebound in the box and scored the first goal of the match with 7 minutes left in the match.
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— DSports (@DSports) November 25, 2023
A while after the French victory, Mali also had to wait until the final segment to tilt the last match of the quarter-finals in their favour and thus savour a sweet revenge, since in May Morocco had beaten them on penalties in one of the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations U-17 that was played in Algeria.
Although Soumaila Coulibaly's team dominated much of the game, they were only able to break goalkeeper Taha Benrhozil nine minutes from time: Ibrahim Kanate was unable to capitalize on a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but after his shot crashed against the right post, captain Ibrahim Diarra collected the rebound and touched the net.
GOAL FOR MALI! ⚽🇲🇱
👉 After the rebound hit the post after a great play by Kanate, Diarra appeared in the box and scored the 1-0.
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— DSports (@DSports) November 25, 2023
In their sixth appearance in a World Cup of this category, the Malians, who were Spain's escorts in Group B and thrashed Mexico 5-0 in the round of 2015, reached the semi-finals for the third time in a row: they were runners-up in Chile 2017 and third in India 2019 (they did not participate in Brazil <>).
In this way, the matches that will define the finalists of the tournament and that will be played on Tuesday in Surakarta were outlined: Argentina will face Germany at 5.30, while France and Mali will clash at 9.