Two minutes after Mali’s Doucoure 62nd minute strike against Spain in Wednesday’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup semifinal at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai hit the horizontal and bounced inside the goal but was not noticed by either the referee or the linesman, there was a melee in the African team’s dugout.
Two minutes after Mali’s Doucoure 62nd minute strike against Spain in Wednesday’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup semifinal at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai hit the horizontal and bounced inside the goal but was not noticed by either the referee or the linesman, there was a melee in the African team’s dugout.
In those two minutes, the giant screen at the DY Patil Stadium had replays of the shot and the ball bouncing inside the goal. There was huge uproar from the larger Mali supporters and protests by Mali coach Jonas Komla and his assistant referees, drawing the attention of the Japanese referee Ryuji Sato to the goal that was denied to them.
Heated arguments ensued, and Mali dugout was right in claiming the goal. But, not to be influenced by the replays, the referee stood ground and even flashed yellow card on one of the Mali assistant coaches.
Play continued. Mali, until then trailing 0-2 against Spain, went on to lose 1-3. Thus, the 2015 runners-up will play the third-place playoff against three-time champions Brazil on Saturday in Kolkata.
Spain coach Santiago Denia completely understood the disappointment on Komla’s face and said that he would suggest to the authorities to not show replays in the stadium giant screens.
Speaking at the end of his team’s semifinal win on Wednesday night, Denia said in Spanish and translated into English: “I understand if the coach is upset. If that would have changed the game or not, it is not easy to say. We were playing well at that point. From the Spanish federation, we are going to respect the referee. It is not an easy job. I will suggest to not show replays on the screen as they can influence the referee and the spectators’ behaviour towards the referee. We understand that the referee’s job is difficult and we respect that.”
Komla, on his part, was graceful in not just the defeat but also did not say anything ill about the referee after being denied a goal.
Speaking in French and translated into English, Komla said: “I can’t say anything about the referee. That is how football is. We tried to play good, fast game but could not do cross the line in the end.”
Komla believed that had the goal been awarded, and Mali did eventually score 12 minutes after the incident through Lassana N’Diaye, his team would have had greater chances of turning the result upside down.
“Maybe, that would have given us a little bit of luck. After that, we had enough time to score. But, Spain played very well and they won on merit. That’s how football is,” Komla said, giving credit where it is due.
The Spanish coach Denia was not really concerned if the disallowed goal controversy would actually garner greater discussion time than the fact that Spain played dominated Mali.
He said: “I congratulated the coach of Mali for the way he prepared his boy very well against us. The fact that the ball possession was divided equally, which has not happened until now as Spain have been having more ball possession than the opposition in the earlier matches.”
With the semifinal done and dusted, Spain will turn their attention towards Saturday’s final against England.
While it is Spain’s fourth final, England have entered the title round for the first time in only their fourth participation in the U-17 World Cup.
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