Penalty hero Konstantin Heide led the German U17 national team into the World Cup final. On his World Cup debut, the SpVgg Unterhaching goalkeeper saved two Argentinian penalties in a test of nerves from the spot – double goalscorer Paris Brunner then converted the decisive try for Germany.
After the thrilling triumph with 4-2 in the penalty shootout in the semi-finals, the young German footballers are reaching for their first world championship title on Saturday, as they did almost four decades ago. In warm, humid Surakarta in Indonesia, coach Christian Wück’s selection once again demonstrated their great class – and enormous taking qualities – on Tuesday.
After a rousing 100 minutes of play including stoppage time, the score was 3:3 (1:2). Dortmund’s super talent Brunner was the goalscorer again with a brace (10th/58th minute), and after Hoffenheim’s Max Moerstedt’s supposed goal (69th) to make it 3-2, Germany looked like the winner for a long time. But triple goal scorer Agustin Ruberto (36th/45th April/90th July) saved an initially superior successor generation to Lionel Messi
After dreary days for the senior national team, the youth team continues to delight the German Football Association. After the European Championship title in the summer, when the U17 won from the point in the final against France, they are looking for another title. This time France or Mali will be the opponents in the final on Saturday.
The DFB has only managed to reach the final once in this tournament history. In 1985, the selection led by top scorer Marcel Witeczek – at that time U16 teams still competed against each other – had to admit defeat to Nigeria 0-2. The last time a German team around Rani Khedira and Mitchell Weiser made it to the semifinals was in Mexico in 2011. At that time the team came third.
As in the 1-0 win against Spain in the quarter-finals, when Brunner’s converted penalty kick brought victory against dominant Spaniards, the Dortmund super talent also played a leading role in the semi-finals. During the first German attack, he was put in the spotlight by FC Barcelona captain Noah Darvich and finished ice-cold. Argentina’s goalkeeper Jeremias Florentin also played a key role in the goal when he shot into the near corner.
On the other side, Heide was already convincing before the penalty shootout. Unterhachinger, who was brought into the team at short notice to replace the sick regular goalkeeper Max Schmitt (FC Bayern), made a brilliant save against Gustavo Albarracin (22′). He would have been powerless when Claudio Echeverri, known as the “little devil”, almost took the lead after a few seconds. Heide saved repeatedly in stoppage time – he was powerless to equalize.
When the Argentines drew 1-1, Brunner, who was recently suspended from the club for an unspecified incident, lost the decisive duel. The South Americans took decisive advantage of this and came back with Ruberto’s sixth goal of the tournament. The first half ended bitterly: After Brunner had the Germans 2-1 on their feet, Ruberto struck again in return to make it 1-2 for the team of former Leverkusen player Diego Placente.
After the break, Brunner also became a double goalscorer. The Dortmund player deliberately took advantage of a bad pass from goalkeeper Florentin to equalize. Moerstedt then headed in against a flawed Argentinian defense to make it 3-2, before Ruberto’s next big appearance followed. That ended in the penalty shootout.
