RESULT: England crowned champions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Win 5-2!
What a breathtaking game of football this was!
It was an action packed day for all sports lovers, with the finals of the FIFA U-17 World Cup being played on the same day as the finals of the Pro Kabaddi League, Season 5. To go with that, we had some good games in the English Premier League as well.
Earlier in the day, Brazil took on Mali in the 3rd place playoff game, with the former winning 2-0 thanks to two goals in the second half. The stage was then set for the final at 8pm IST, at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Spain were pre-match favourites, but England were the dark horses as we said in the tournament preview weeks back.
England enjoyed majority of the possession in the first half and both teams had a lot of shots on target in the first few minutes, which was an indicator that this final would be a high scoring game. However, a shocker of a decision by the authorities allowed Spain to take the lead.
10th minute: Surely Sergio Gomez was offside there, but GOAAAAAAALLL! Spain work the ball into the box but a weak header sends the ball towards the English keeper Anderson. However, Gomez was positioned ahead of the keeper, who back heeled the ball into the goal. Horrid decision by the officials to not signal that offside. Very controversial goal this will become!
Both teams continued to have their chances in the first half at Kolkata but England weren’t finishing off well. England had a total of 15 shots in the first half but only 4 were on target, whereas Spain enjoyed a 100% shot accuracy from their 4 shots taken.
30th minute: It looked like this wasn’t England’s day as Spain worked the ball into the box once again, and found the foot of Sergio Gomez once again, who smashed it into the top corner, as the goalkeeper did nothing but looked on. GOAAAAAAALLL!
44th minute: The last 6-7 minutes of the first half were all England’s as the ball refused to leave Spain’s half. They had quite a few chances including a shot that rebounded off the pole. However, some good play finally paid off. GOAAAAAAALLL! Sessegnon crossed the ball in onto the Liverpool striker Rhian Brewster’s head, as England pulled one goal back.
Half time stats:
| ⚽ | England | Spain |
| Possession | 59% | 41% |
| Shots | 15 | 4 |
| Shots on target | 4 | 4 |
England then came out very strong in the second half, going GOAAAAAAALLL! in the 58th minute, followed by another GOAAAAAAALLL! in the 69th minute, putting them in the lead 3-2, after initially being down 2-0. Morgan Gibbs-White and Phil Foden were the two who struck in the second half.
What was a very well fought game in the first half, later turned out to be a game completely dominated by England in the second half. The teenagers would’ve been waiting for the time to tick by after England took the lead, but Spain wasn’t going down without a fight.
84th minute: Spain commit a foul giving England a free-kick opportunity. A nice cross in and the ball bounces a bit in the box before it lands in front of defender Marc Guehi, who comfortably nets the ball. GOAAAAAAALLL! With that, England registered their 9th different goal scorer of the tournament.
86th minute: Another one gets in. GOAAAAAAALLL! Phil Foden scores his second of the night as England make it certain now. They go up 5-2 and have scored the last 5 goals of the match. This is now the highest scoring U-17 World Cup final game ever. England are going to be crowned champions in a few minutes from now.
Is this the rise of England football?
However, the full world has one question to ask the England boys:
What a bloody great performance by the English boys, but why are they wearing sports bras though #Under17worldcup
— Stanley ? (@StanleyTiger) October 28, 2017
List of awards given away:
- Fair Play Award – Brazil (Only 4 yellow cards in the tournament).
- Golden Boot Award – Rhian Brewster (England).
- Golden Goal Award – Brazao (Brazil).
- Golden Ball Award – Phil Foden (England).
- 3rd Place – Brazil
- Runners up – Spain
- Champions – England
Hope you enjoyed the match, wherein England became the U-17 world champions for the first time ever. Find similar content in our Soccer Scoops section.
