France dominate Nigeria to win world under-17 title (01.10.2001)
PORT OF SPAIN,
France beat Nigeria 3-0 to win the under-17 world title at the Hasely Crawford stadium here on Sunday and underline the country`s footballing future is in fine hands.
With the French senior team reigning world and European champions, many of this young squad appear capable of continuing that tradition.
The highly impressive Florent Sinama Pongolle scored the first goal in the 34th minute, giving him nine in the tournament, and Anthony Le Taellec added a second in the 52nd minute. Both players are due to join Liverpool under a deal between their French club Le Havre
andthe English Premiership giants.
Samuel Pietre completed the job in the 80th minute as the Nigerian youngsters appeared increasingly dispirited by the domination of their opponents on the strength-sapping maximum-sized pitch.
Nigeria`s Femi Opabunmi finished second-highest scorer in the championships with five goals, but he was unable to add to his total in the final.
At the final whistle the French team huddled on the pitch with their coaches to celebrate the victory over two-time winners Nigeria.
Burkina Faso had earlier beaten Argentina 2-0 in the third-place playoff.
