Propelled with attacking firepower in both the quarters, Brazil and Mali will lock horns for the less-fancied third-spot clash before the Final of the FIFA under-17 World Cup here on Saturday.
Both teams after winning their respective continental title were billed among the frontrunners to lift the silverware. And they lived up to the expectation in style with 26 goals - Brazil (10 goals) and Mali (16 goals) combined in this tournament.
For the South American giants, the spotlight remains on left-winger Paulinho, who dazzled the VBYK stadium with his blinder against Germany in the quarter-finals. His partnership with lincoln and Brenner up front — with 8 goals among each other — has been applauded by many and caught the attention of scouts from top clubs.
The African nation, on the other hand, will be playing with an extra motivation. And that is to help striker lassana N'diaye win the golden boot. With 6 goals so far, the last coming against Spain in a losing cause, needs a brace on Saturday to peg Rhian Brewster in the race - given the English striker don't add another goal to his tally of 7 strikes.
To make it happen, the Mali striker will be depending on his three chums in attack - Djemoussa Traore (left winger), Hadji Drame (right winger) and Salam Giddou (midfielder). The trident has at least assisted N'diaye once in this World Cup and have combined together to be one of the most aggressive forces to reckon with in this tournament for Mali.
But with the ideology of attack first than defend, Mali, along with Brazil, have lived on the edge of their sword in the competition so far, which ultimately led to their downfall in the semi-finals as they lost by an identical score-line of 3-1 against both the finalist England and Spain respectively.
Despite the dream-shattering loss in the last-four, coaches of both the teams have pulled back the squad from the defeat and vowed to put their strong foot forward to finish in the podium.
"Whenever we step on the field, wearing our yellow jersey, we understand the responsibility that comes with it," Brazil coach Carlos Amadeu said. "We can't take a match lightly while representing Brazil. We will play our strongest team, given every player is fit to play."
While Mali coach Jonas Komla said: "It would be an honour to finish as top three at this event. So we will play like we played all our games. It's a big occasion for Mali."