A brace from Abel Ruiz booked Spain’s place in the FIFA U-17 World Cup final after they beat Mali 3-1 at the D.Y. Patil Stadium yesterday.
Ruiz scored twice in the first half to give Spain the lead at the break, before Ferran Torres made it three with 20 minutes to go. Mali got one back three minutes later but Spain held on to set up a showdown against England on Saturday.
The talking point of the match, however, came with half-an-hour to go as Mali were denied a goal when Oumar Doucoure’s shot from long range that hit the bar and came back appeared to have just made it over the line. The referee didn’t spot the ball going in, and Mali’s coaching staff, who saw the replays on the big screen at the stadium, were furious at the decision, frantically waving in front of the referee; one of the members of the coaching staff was shown a yellow card for dissent.