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Maurice Revello Tournament: Mali defeat Saudi Arabia but inexplicably miss out on semifinals

Mali at the 2025 Maurice Revello Tournament
Photo: Tournoi Maurice Revello/Facebook

Mali added another penalty kick shootout victory, this time against Saudi Arabia following a 2-2 draw, at the Maurice Revello Tournament in Southern France on Monday. However, the Eagles' under-20 selection will controversially not take part in the semifinals despite finishing level on points with Saudi Arabia, who were awarded a spot in the final four due to a superior goal difference.

The match featured plenty of twists and turns with Saudi Arabia, represented in this tournament by its Olympic selection (U-23), opening the scoring inside fifteen minutes. However, the Malians looked more dangerous throughout the match and grabbed a deserved equalizer just before halftime through Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Gaossou Diakité.


Mali completed the turnaround early in the second half when Manchester United starlet Sekou Koné assisted Wilson Samaké for his second goal of the competition after Koné's initial shot was saved (video above). The Saudi team leveled later in the second half through Abdullah Radif.


A penalty kick shootout was needed to decide the winner of the match. Both teams were perfect through five rounds of spot kicks but Mali persevered to win 6-5 after Abdullah Al Zaid fired his penalty off the crossbar.

However, instead of using the head-to-head record as a tiebreaker, goal difference was used which allowed Saudi Arabia to advance instead of Mali. The Saudis accumulated a neutral (+0) goal difference while Mali finished with -1, a determining factor that will leave the Malian selection and its supporters disappointed for good reason.

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2024 Pan Africa Football

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