Ghost goal controversy mars Spain-Mali semifinal

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Bengaluru, October 26: After beating Mali 1-3 in Navi Mumbai, the European U17 champions Spain set up a date with England for the summit clash, which will be a repeat of the Euro U17 final.

England beat title favourites Brazil 3-1 in Kolkata earlier on Wednesday (October 25) and will look to avenge their Euro defeat against Spain in the final.

Spain won their 2017 FIFA U17 World Cup semi-final against Mali, a game surrounded by controversy with the Africans robbed of a goal, disallowed by referee Ryuji Sato, despite video replays clearly indicating Cheick Doucoure's strike had crossed the line before bouncing out.

Both the managers talked about the issue in their post-match conferences and had entirely different viewpoints. Jonas Komla, the Mali coach, was visibly distraught by the disallowed goal but gave diplomatic answers about the incident.

"I don't have any comments to make about the referee. This is football but we lacked luck tonight," Komla said.

Meanwhile, Santiago Denia, the Spain boss, recommended FIFA not to show replays of the incident happened on the big screen.

He said, "The Spain federation respects the job done by the referee - it is not an easy job. But I think the replays should not be shown on the big screen, it might influence the decision of the referee and also the crowd reaction from it can also bring out a decision from the referee."

Santiago said, "Mali did their homework and man-marked us. We had to go direct at times and use Abel Ruiz by playing him on the shoulder of their last defender."

Spain had defeated England in the U-17 European Championship earlier this year and England will be looking for revenge at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata where they have played all of their games in the World Cup except just one that was their quarter final game against USA.