Topics: FIFA, U-17 World Cup, Nigeria, Mali, Chile
It was Mali's first ever U-17 World Cup final appearance. Nigeria's Victor Osimhen won the Adidas Golden Boot.

Nigeria is taking back the World Cup in the U-17 division for a second time in a row. The African squad beat Mali 2-0 at Estadio Sausalito in Chile. It is Nigeria's fifth title in this age group and third in the last five World Cups. At the same time, Victor Osimhen from Nigeria was presented with the Adidas Golden Boot.

Nigeria accessed the final by defeating Mexico 4-2 in the semi-final. El Tri had been the same team that they had faced in the 2013 World Cup final. They were able to come back from an early goal scored by Mexico to then tie the game and finally end up with a two-goal advantage that Mexico could not respond to.

The Golden Eaglets have done it again

On the other side, Mali had to defeat Belgium in order to make it to its first FIFA U-17 World Cup final. They had already been crowned as the African champions but wanted to take their dominance to the next level. Mali's 3-1 victory over Belgium gave them the confidence they wanted to go ahead the reigning champions.

This was the second all-African final in the history of this tournament, with the first one being dated back to 1993 between Nigeria and Japan. That time, the Golden Eaglets also won 2-1. No one had repeated as the champion ever since Brazil did it in 1997 and 1999.

Nigeria had a chance to get the lead less than five minutes into the game with a penalty kick. They did not take advantage of it as Mali's keeper stopped the first shot, the rebound hit the crossbar and a third attempt was blocked by the defense.

It was not until the second half that Mali conceded the first goal of the match with Victor Osimhen's tenth goal of the tournament. With a clear opportunity in front of the net, he did not hesitate on his chance and got his shot to the left side of the goalkeeper, with enough speed that it could not be stopped. 

Only five minutes later, Nigeria was able to extend their lead thanks to Funsho Bamgboye. The Nigerian player slotted his shot on the left side of the net, right between the goalkeeper and his right post for the 2-0 lead. Mali tried to recover but did not create more than one interesting opportunity in the rest of the game. 

Nigerians are happy

Osimhen became the first player to score ten goals in a single FIFA U17 World Cup tournament. His feat made him the winner of the Adidas Golden Boot. His teammate Kenechi Nwakali received the Golden Ball as the winner of the tournament. 

Mali is not leaving empty-handed

Nigeria is leaving with a handful of hardware