the French under-17 team qualified for the World Cup final

The young Blues, reigning European vice-champions, overthrew Mali (2-1) in the semi-final of the World Cup, which takes place in Indonesia, to challenge Germany in the final, winner of the Argentina.

France is back in the World Cup final. A year after the A, it is the French under-17 team which qualified for the grand final of their World Cup, after its stunning victory against Mali in the semi-final (2-1), Tuesday November 28, at Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, central Indonesia. They will challenge Germany, who fell a little earlier to Argentina on penalties (3-3, 4-2). “JI have an exceptional group, an exceptional staff. When they listen and implement what we have decided, it’s incredible”reacted coach Jean-Luc Vannuchi at the microphone of La Chaîne l’Equipe after the meeting.

However, the little Blues got off to a bad start in this semi-final. After a very unbridled first forty-five minutes, they conceded the opening score in stoppage time in the first period (45+4th), on a poorly judged cross by the French goalkeeper Paul Argney and pushed back into the feet of Ibrahim Diarra, alone at the near post.

The revenge of the Euro final

But they then took advantage of the exclusion of Malian defender Souleymane Sanogo for a big sole on the knee of Aymen Sadi (55th) and the free kick that followed to get back into the game, thanks to Yvann Titi’s header . Before Ismail Bouneb went for the winning goal with a new free kick (69th) and liberated the French camp. “It’s the mentality, we didn’t give up, we continued to play and we came back with determination.”appreciated the second scorer.

The French under-17 team, which will therefore challenge the Germans, is qualified for its second World Cup final, after 2001. It was titled that year, with Anthony Le Tallec and Florent Sinama-Pongolle in particular . This French team, which has a new opportunity to grow its record, was beaten in the Euro final last June, already against Germany.