Mali beat Argentina

Mali, the runner up of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2015, defeated Argentina 3-0 to finish third in this year’s edition at the Manahan in Indonesia on Friday.

Ibrahim Diarra – unquestionably one of the stars of Indonesia 2023 – opened the scoring on nine minutes.

The Mali captain expertly controlled a lofted pass from Sekou Kone then placed a precision strike into the bottom corner.

Mali continued to control the game and got the second goal their efforts deserved on the stroke of half-time. Makalou was the creator, with his free-kick delivery headed home by Doumbia.

Though Argentina tried to get back on its feet after restart, Hamidou Makalou’s strike virtually ended the contest within three minutes. Makalou alighted on the ball just inside the box, nutmegged Tobias Palacio and, with one swift body-swerve, side-stepped Dylan Gorosito and goalkeeper Jeremias Florentin before tapping into an empty net.