Agustin Ruberto, FIFA World Cup U-17 top scorer
Jakarta, IO – Argentina U-17 did not win the battle for Third Place, after losing against Mali U-17, but La Albiceleste still took home an award from the 2023 U-17 World Cup.
Striker Agustin Ruberto received the Golden Boot after becoming the top scorer in this tournament. He recorded eight goals in his seven appearances in the 19th edition of the FIFA World Cup U-17.
Ruberto only missed scoring goals in two matches, namely in the round of 16 against Brazil and the ranking match against Mali. The rest of the time, Ruberto actively scored goals, even in the match against Germany, he scored a hat trick against Heide Konstantine.
He edged out Mali captain Ibrahim Diarra, who scored seven goals. Then, his teammates in the national team Claudio Echeverri, Paris Brunner (Germany), Max Moerstedt (Germany) with five goals.
Meanwhile, Rento Takaoka (Japan), Kaua Elias (Brazil), Amirbek Saidov (Uzbekistan), Mamadou Doumbia (Mali) scored 4 goals; and Rayan (Brazil), Idrissa Gueye (Senegal), Nimfasha Berchimas (United States), Stephano Carillo (Mexico), Joan Tincres (France), Michael Bermudez (Ecuador), Estevao (Brazil), Mahamoud Barry (Mali), Joel Ndala (England) scored 3 goals each.
After the defeat against Mali, Ruberto looked devastated because he couldn’t help the team bring home a bronze medal. However, Coach Diego Placente still bestowed his praise.
“Oh, of course this makes me happy. Makes me very happy tonight, because he has done an extraordinary job in this tournament. He (Ruberto) is a child who always wants to improve. So I am very happy that this happened. I am happy, because he played this tournament well,” he said.
Unfortunately, Ruberto’s achievement has not been able to break the record set by Nigerian player Victor Osimhen, who scored 10 goals in the 2015 World Cup edition, in the round of 16. Osimhen still holds the highest number of goals in the history of the U-17 World Cup.
It is believed that the holder of the Golden Boot title will one day become a big name in world football, like Florent Sinama Pongolle (France) who was the top scorer at the 2001 U-17 World Cup. At a young age, he was recruited by big clubs such as Liverpool and Atletico Madrid.
Then, Cesc Fabregas was the top scorer at the 2003 U-17 World Cup. He was a mainstay for Arsenal and Barcelona and was a pillar of the Spanish national team.
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Osimhen, whose record has not yet been broken, is now playing at Napoli. Then there is Souleymane Coulibaly, who defended Ivory Coast during the 2011 U-17 World Cup. He scored 9 goals at that time and is now the coach of the Mali U-17 national team.
In the last edition of the 2019 U-17 World Cup in Brazil, Dutch striker Sontje Hansen was the top scorer with six goals. He was recruited by Ajax Amsterdam before now playing at NEC Nijemegen. (rp)