Mali came back strongly in the competition after their shock 2-3 defeat at the hands of Paraguay on the opening day on Friday to open their account in the points table.
Turkey may have had a greater share of the ball possession – 53 per cent – in their second Group B match against Mali here on Monday. But it was the African champions who walked away with three full points following their 3-0 drubbing of the European qualifiers at the DY Patil Stadium.
Mali came back strongly in the competition after their shock 2-3 defeat at the hands of Paraguay on the opening day on Friday to open their account in the points table.
The 2015 runners-up were expected to win against Turkey, their first head-to-head in this competition. They ought to have scored more than just the three goals in reply to nothing as there were umpteen missed chances in either half, more so in the first.
Mali had more scoring opportunities in the first half in which they managed to find the target only once, in the 38th minute through Djemoussa Traore's left-footer into the right corner off a Hadji Drame through ball.
The African team scored two goals in the second half within the space of 18 minutes. Lassana N'Diaye slotted in a rebound off an Abdoulaye Diaby shot to double the lead in the 68th, and Fode Konate added his name to the scoresheet with an 86th minute left-footer that saw the ball hit the underside of the horizontal and into the goal.
Expectedly, there was more action in the Turkey goalmouth right from kick-off with the West African nation going on the attack and keeping the Turkish defenders busy. Mali were never in trouble at any point even though the Turks had eight attempts on the goal including four on target.
There were too much action in the Turkish goal to put the Europeans constantly on the backfoot. Mali earned three corners in three minutes at the half-hour mark but they were either saved by gloveman Ozer or was not finished well.
That was until Djemoussa slotted the ball into the right corner of the net in the 38th, and N'Diaye and Konate added to Turkey's misery to take Mali within a goal of their best ever victory margin in this tournament –4-0 win over New Zealand in 1997.
Next up for Mali are New Zealand in New Delhi on Thursday. Simultaneously, Turkey have a tougher opponent in Paraguay in Navi Mumbai.
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