Action in New Delhi concluded on Monday
Big wins recorded by Germany and USA
South American duo Colombia and Paraguay bow out
THE DAY REPLAYED - New Delhi bade farewell to the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 on Monday, hosting the first two Round of 16 matches, which ended in comprehensive wins for Germany and USA.
Germany put their sketchy group-phase performances well and truly behind them with the most convincing of displays against a Colombia side that had no answer to their firepower. Leading the German charge to the last eight were Jann-Fiete Arp, who scored two of his side’s four goals, and John Yeboah, who also got on the scoresheet to cap a superlative individual display.
South America lost another representative in the day’s other game, with a Tim Weah hat-trick firing USA to an even bigger win over Paraguay, who were unable to recapture their regal first-round form. Only Brazil remain of the continent’s four-strong contingent, with Chile having gone out in the group phase.
The games Colombia 0-4 Germany Paraguay 0-5 USA
Moments of the day
What we learned 1. Can do better: Latin American coaches are commonly known as El Profe (“The Teacher”), but judging by their efforts against Germany, Colombia failed to listen to theirs. Orlando Restrepo had made it very clear what he expected of his charges prior to their last-16 tie, but was left disappointed at their lack of application. “We didn’t play with the patience I’d asked for,” he lamented afterwards. “We lacked calm, which meant we lost our shape and, most importantly, the solidity we had in the previous games.”
2. A chip off the old block: Being the son of a legend of the game can be a heavy burden when attempting to follow in their footsteps, though not for Tim Weah it would seem. The USA forward is showing no signs of being weighed down by having the name of one of the greatest African players of all time on his back. “He’s always giving me advice and telling me that anything is possible, that I can be whatever I want to be,” young Tim recently told FIFA.com about the paternal advice he has been getting. For the time being at least, he has chosen to be a hero for the Stars and Stripes.
3. A price to pay: Germany and USA did what they had to do to win through to the last eight. Sometimes, however, sacrifices have to be made to reach major objectives, as Die Mannschaft winger Dennis Jastrzembski and Stars and Stripes midfielder Chris Goslin will agree, having both picked up their second yellow cards of the tournament on Monday. They will now sit out their sides’ quarter-final ties, though that is preferable to the fate of Colombia and Paraguay’s players, who have contested their last games of the competition.
The stat of the day 100 - in moving into a 3-0 lead against Colombia, Germany scored their 100th FIFA U-17 World Cup goal. Die Nationalmannschaft ended the day on 101 goals, scored across 48 matches, 24 of them wins.
The quote “We played as a team and we were there for each other the whole time. We kept things really tight at the back and that allowed the forwards to create a lot of chances. Things worked really well for us and we stopped Colombia from playing their passing game most of the time.” Germany defender Lukas Mai