Impressive African reps Mali and Senegal set the North Harbour Stadium New Zealand aglow with entertaining football in their third-place match of the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup in the wee hours of Saturday (Nigerian time). Mali however, won 3-1 fair and square as the third and fourth spots were wrapped up by African teams.
Ibou Wadji opened scoring for Senegal on 64 minutes as the Africans defied rainfall on the tournament's last day to entertain.
Adama Traore scored twice for Mali – in the 74 and 83 minutes, the provided an crucial assist for Samassekou to score the third in the first minute on injury time.
Mali coach, Fanyeri Diarra describes the Bronze win as an appropriate reward for his team's hard work, and hailed African teams' strong impact in the tournament.
"We've come a long way in this tournament and have been proud to represent Africa," Diarra states.
"And we're very happy today. Adama Traore (with two goals and an assist) did a great job for us. He is a great player and I have no doubt he has a great future in the game.
"We've had a great run in this competition and the outcome is very positive. For Africa, it has been great having two teams in the last four, and I want to congratulate Senegal too. Nigeria and Ghana were also strong, and I think African teams have defended their colours extremely well in this tournament. We've proven that, with the right resources, African teams will get results."
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