U-17 World Cup: Fancied Germany take on upbeat Costa Rica

Margao: Goan fans’ long wait to watch international football’s potential stars of the future will be finally over as European giants Germany take to the lush green pitch at the Nehru stadium in Fatorda on Saturday.

The tournament favourites, who boast of star striker Jann-Fiete Arp in their ranks, start their Under-17 World Cup campaign against Costa Rica in Group C.

Germany are the best team in the men’s Fifa rankings but ironically have yet to win the U-17 tournament. They have been eliminated by the eventual champions in three of the last four editions.

“There is no pressure on the team. We all play football to win games and win titles. We are very lucky to be here. I think we are a very strong team but we know from the European Championships that to finish first you need a bit of luck,” said Germany team coach Christian Wuck at the pre-match briefing at the match venue on Friday.

In the qualifying campaign, Germany recorded seven victories from as many games up until the European Championship semifinals in Croatia, scoring 36 goals and conceding just six. They only failed to score in their last-four clash against eventual champions Spain, who won 4-2 on penalties.

Arp scored two hat-tricks in the Euro and will hope to carry his scoring form to India. The Hamburg striker also became the first Bundesliga player to be born after the year 2000 and made his debut recently against Werder Bremen.

“Jann-Fiete is a very important player for us. Not only on the pitch but also outside the pitch. He’s like Erik Majetschak, and a second captain of the team. We are a team and have 21 players but only 11 can play (on the pitch). But we are very strong till the 21st man,” said Wuck who ensured to field the strongest playing 11 for every game.

On the other hand, Costa Rica are not behind. It will be their 10th appearance in the tournament and having reached the quarterfinals on four occasions, the Los Ticos have a spot in the knockout stages in their sights.

Costa Rica will depend heavily on captain and forward Jose Rodolfo Alfaro who made his senior team debut for Costa Rican club Deportiva Carmelita at the age of 16. Coach Breansse Camacho has also confidence in the midfield trio of Amferny Arias, Josue Abarca and Julian Cordero.

“We are very happy to be here. We have worked hard and we have high expectations from the team as we are thinking of the future. Costa Rica players don’t get opportunities like this to play big opponents like Germany and it will help them develop,” said Camacho, who felt a win in the first match will set the tone right for their progress.

The team had earlier trained in Spain and have got acclimatised to the weather in Goa, especially with the 5pm kick off in mind.