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Mali edge Black Starlets to win African U-17 Championship

Mali edge Black Starlets to win African U-17 Championship

A 21st-minute penalty converted by midfielder Mamadou Samake gave the Aiglonnets of Mali a lone goal victory over Ghana’s Black Starlets at the Stade de L’ Amite in Libreville yesterday to win the African Under-17 Championship for a historic second successive time.

The Starlets fell behind after conceding a penalty when Ghanaian defender John Otu brought down Ibrahim Kane. Ghana’s goalkeeper Danlad Ibrahim bravely saved the first kick but Samake reacted quickly to latch onto the rebound and drilled the ball home for what turned out to be the championship-winning goal.

Mali won another spot kick in the 31st minute, a controversial decision by Madagascan referee Hamada el Moussa after Fode Konate clashed with Starlets’ Abdul Razak Yusif during a struggle for the ball in Ghana’s penalty box. Starlets goalie Ibrahim, whose brilliant saves denied the Malians many scoring opportunities, dived to the right to push the ball to corner to give the Ghanaians a respite.

The Malians played a more composed game to deny Paa Kwesi Fabin’s side a record third continental trophy.

It was the second time Mali had triumphed over Ghana at the under-17 championship, their first win first coming 20 years ago when the Aiglonnets defeated the Starlets 2-1 at the semi-final stage in Botswana.

Ghana had their turn in 1995 and 2005 when they defeated Mali 1-0 and 3-2 respectively during the preliminary stages of the competition held in Mali and the Gambia respectively.

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