Watch: Ghost Goal' haunts Mali during FIFA U-17 World Cup semifinal loss to Spain

Mumbai: The second FIFA Under-17 World Cup semifinal between Mali and Spain played at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai had all the contents of a Bollywood movie. The clash between continental champions had drama, action and emotion until the final whistle.

Mali, who went down to 1-3 to Spain, could count themselves unlucky in terms of goals. The African champions had a goal disallowed in the 62nd minute, and had that goal been given, the complexion of the match could have changed, giving Mali a chance to make a comeback in regulation time.

The ‘Ghost Goal’ was scored by Mali midfielder Cheick Oumar Doucoure, whose strike hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced inside the goal but went unnoticed by the referee or the linesman.

(Watch the disallowed goal in the video from 4:25 to 4:32)

The incident brought back the memory of ‘Ghost Goal’ scored by former England midfielder Frank Lampard at the 2010 World Cup against Germany. Lampard fired his shot over Manuel Neuer in the German goal, the ball cannoned off the underside of the bar and clearly bounced behind the line for a goal.

The giant screen at the DY Patil Stadium showed replays of the shot and the ball bouncing inside the goal. The African team protested and the heated argument between the referee and Mali coaches resulted in yellow card flashed at one of the assistant coaches. With no VAR (Video assistant referees) used for the tournament, the disallowed goal came as a devastating blow for the African side.

The big question is, had the outcome of the match changed if the referee would have allowed the goal?

Mali coach Jonas Komla gracefully accepted the defeat rather than blaming the referee he said: “I can’t say anything about the referee. That is how football is. We tried to play good, fast game but could not do cross the line in the end.” Mali will now face Brazil for third place on Saturday.