Nemanja Maksimovic left it late in extra time to seal the Fifa Under-20 World Cup for Serbia at the expense of Brazil.
Manchester United’s Andrea Pereira had earlier leveled for Brazil, who were bidding for a record-equaling sixth title, following Stanisa Mandic’s opener.
Brazil dominated possession but were just not able to stop the Serbians from clinching their first title in New Zealand.
A Selecao asked too many questions of their opponents’ readiness early into the proceedings but it was Serbia who had the best opening of the half few minutes to the break, when Andrija Zivkovic’s delivery to the back post; headed across goal by Babic found Sergej Milinkovic, who fluffed a free header in front of goal.
Brazil continued to press for an opener after the break but could not convert their chances as skipper Danillo fired wide, with goalkeeper Pedrag Zajkovic doing well to fluff their onslaught.
Milan Gajic and Zivkovic then combined well to allow the the latter break into the Brazilian area but his fierce shot failed to trouble goalkeeper Jean Carlos.
The Serbs eventually broke the deadlock moments later as Maksimovic found his way into the penalty area to loft the ball for Mandic who capitalised on some slack defending and poked home from close range.
Pereira leveled for Brazil three minutes later via some individual brilliance; the second-half substitute dazzled into the South Americans’ goal area, cut inside onto his right foot before shooting the ball beyond Rajkovic in goal for Serbia.
Pereira also came close to sealing victory on 90 minutes but his free-kick was paired away by Razjkovic to force extra-time.
Despite the rain which started chucking it down in Auckland, both sides continued to search for that elusive crown, which eventually came for the European courtesy of Maksimovic goal three invites from time.
The forward was sent through by a Zivkovic neat pass and with the linesman’s flag down, wasted no time to put the ball inside Jean’s net.
Elsewhere, Mali defeated ten-man Senegal 3-1 to claim the third-place classification match. Adams Traore scored twice, complimented by Diadie Samassekou’s strike to hand the Malians bronze medal. Ibrahim’s Wadji grabbed a consolatory goal for Senegal.
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