Brazil overcome Mali to secure third place at the U17 WC
![Alan de Souza celebrates giving his side the lead. Twitter](https://cdn.resfu.com/media/img_news/alan-de-souza-de-guimaraes--del-palmeiras--twitter.jpg?size=1000x&lossy=1)
Both teams were looking to end the tournament on a high but the South American side came out on top, arguably against the run of play.
Mali were dominant from the early stages and Brazilian goalkeeper Brazao was called into action several times in the first half, but the sides went in level at 0-0.
The African side kept up the pressure after the break, but Brazil took the lead in fortuitous circumstances after 55 minutes.
Alan de Souza pounced on a defensive mix-up in the final third and made his way towards the goal before releasing a shot. His effort was extremely tame and it looked as if Koita in the Mali goal would claim the ball easily, but it somehow slipped through his fingers and trickled into the goal to give Brazil the lead, against the run of play.
Mali responded well to the setback and continued to pile the pressure on their opponents but were just unable to get the goal.
In the dying minutes, with Mali dedicating most of their players to attack, Brazil broke and sealed the win with a second goal in the 89th minute. Brenner played the ball inside to Yuri Alberto, who was in acres of space inside the box, and he made no mistake from close range, firing in to the bottom corner to put the game beyond Mali's reach.
The result was harsh on Mali but Brazil will be taking home the bronze medals from the U17 tournament in India.