MUMBAI: Defending champions Spain successfully lifted the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup title for the second time in a row with a 1-0 victory over first-time finalists Colombia.
Colombia, who had enjoyed a dream run in the mega event; making their way into the final, have had a heartbreaking end to their expedition as an own goal from their defender Ana María Guzmán Zapata in the 82nd minute granted Spain an easy victory.
Consequently, Spain eked out a solitary goal to retain the title they claimed in 2018.
Cristina’s goal, which came off the rebound after the Colombian goalkeeper had initially stopped it, gave Spain the lead two minutes into the second half.
The goal, however, was overturned by a VAR review, thus the score remained 0-0. Cristina was found to have touched the ball with her hand.
It is pertinent to mention that Spain and Colombia also came face to face in the group stages with the former emerging victorious 1-0.
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BHUBANESWAR: Hosts India marked the end of their disappointing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup campaign as they endured a crushing 0-5 defeat at the hands of Brazil in the Group A fixture on Monday.
Gabriele Berchon opened the scoring for Brazil in the 11th minute, followed by Aline Gomes adding another in the 40th minute.
The hosts after conceding two goals in the first half could not recover in the second as the Brazilian forwards maintained their dominance.
Following the early attack launched by Brazil, gaps began to emerge in India’s defence and Aline made the most of it as she further increased her side’s lead with a screamer in the 51st minute.
Indian defence then displayed grit and kept Brazilian forwards at bay for the majority of the second half until Lara Ferreira dos Santos sneaked past them and struck a screamer in the 86th minute.
The midfielder, fuelled with momentum struck again in the stoppage time to net her second goal in just seven minutes and Brazil, consequently, registered a dominating 5-0 victory over hapless India.
The defeat marked the end of India’s disappointing campaign as they conceded 15 goals in three matches and failed to net a single goal.
Meanwhile, the United States of America’s (USA) thumping 4-0 victory over Morocco in another Group A fixture took them to the top of the group standings and also secured a quarter-finals berth.
Brazil will face Germany, while the USA will take on Nigeria in the quarter-finals on Friday.
The action-filled tournament is being telecasted live on Pakistan’s first HD Sports channel – A Sports and is simultaneously streamed on the digital platform of ARY Digital Network – ARY ZAP in crystal clear HD quality.
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