U-17 World Cup: Germany to arrive in Goa on Saturday

Germany will be the first team to arrive in Goa on Saturday for the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held in six venues across the country next month. Placed in Group C, Germany will play its first match against Costa Rica on October 7.

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The other teams from this group - Costa Rica, Iran and Guinea - will arrive on October 3.

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Germany is not a regular participant, having appeared at five U-17 World Cups so far. It reached the last eight in Scotland in 1989. The greatest success enjoyed by a German team at an U-17 World Cup was at the inaugural tournament in China PR in 1985, where it finished as runner-up.

Compact unit

Germany performed as a compact unit throughout the entire qualifying campaign and recorded seven victories from as many games until the European Championship semifinal, scoring 36 goals and conceding just six. The only time it failed to hit the target was in its last-four clash against eventual champion Spain, which won 4-2 in a penalty shootout.

Under coach Christian Wuck, Germany reached the final of the UEFA U-17 European Championship, which it lost 4-1 to France. At the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile in 2015, Wuck’s team lost to Croatia in the last-16 round.

Germany scored 17 goals in five games at the European qualifying tournament, with Fiete Arp scoring seven of them.