Izuchukwu OkosiFrance and Germany will fight for the crown of the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia after emerging winners in their semifinal games on Tuesday.
The meeting of the two European giants will be a repeat of the U-17 European Championship final last June.
Mali who were finalists in 2015 when Emmanuel Amuneke led the Golden Eaglets to glory in Nigeria’s fifth triumph at the tournament had eliminated fellow African side, Morocco while Germany saw off the threat of U-17 defending champions, Brazil.
France beat Mali 2-1.
Germany led Argentina 3-2 late into the match when the impressive Agustin Ruberto scored his third goal of the game to complete his hat-trick and take the match to penalties.
It is the sixth time that Argentina have crashed out in the last four at the U-17 World Cup.
For Germany, the victory marks their return to the U-17 World Cup final for the first time since 1985 egen they lost to Nigeria and they will face a familiar opponent, France.
The French ground their way to victory against ten-man Mali. The Africans did what no other side had done in the tournament – score against France – but Souleymane Sanogo’s 55th-minute sending-off would prove the turning point of the match.
Mali and Argentina meet on Friday in the third-place playoff. Germany and France bring the tournament to a close on Saturday with the final in Jakarta, the second time the pair have faced off in a matter of months in a major final.
At the U-17 European Championship in Hungary, Germany prevailed 5-4 in the penalty shootout after a goalless draw.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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