U-17 World Cup: Clinical Germany enter quarters

By Gaurav Sharma

New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) Skipper Jann-Fiete Arp struck a brace as a clinical Germany outplayed Colombia 4-0 in a Round-of-16 fixture of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Monday.

Apart from striker Arp (seventh and 65th minutes), Yann Bisseck (39th minute) and John Yehboa (49th minute) found the back of the net to overpower Colombia.

Germany will now take on the winner of the match between Brazil and Honduras.

Germany pressed high from the beginning and, as a result, the Colombian defence succumbed in the seventh minute. Right winger John Yeboah got hold of an aerial ball and gave a brilliant pass to Arp, who missed the scoring opportunity at first touch as the goalkeeper Kevin Mier dived on the ball. But the ball wobbled out of Mier's hands and Arp grabbed the ball again and slammed into the net from a tight angle.

Germany mounted further pressure on the Colombian backline as they made several box penetrations but failed to score.

Just when things seemed bad for the Colombians, the South Americans changed their strategy and started attacking.

On many occasions, they were able to shoot the ball at the goalpost but could not find the net. In the process, they gave many open opportunities to the Germans but Colombia's defenders did a superb job to save the attempts.

In the 33rd minute, Germany got a good opportunity to increase the lead when Dennis Jastrzembski got a brilliant chance but he was denied by the cross-bar.

But six minutes later, Basseck made it 2-0 after rising high to meet a corner and head the ball home.

The second half saw more fierce attacks by the German players. Yehboah once again came into the limelight when he scored in the 49th minute. Arp moved to the left of the Colombian box before cutting it back to Yehboah, who just had tap it in to make it 3-0.

Colombia, failing to step up the pressure, continued with the same strategy and soon conceded one more goal.

In the 65th minute, Germany's skipper Arp capitalised on a defensive error from Giellermo Tegue at the right midfield and charged towards the Colombian box before dinking over Colombian keeper Mier's right shoulder to score his second goal of the match.

Colombia, however, tried many different things after conceding the fourth goal. But German goalkeeper Luca Plogmann and his defence stood like a wall as they ran away overwhelming winners.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gauravsharma.sports@gmail.com)