Two football videos are doing the rounds on the internet at the moment. The first shows Julian Brandt, who goes past three players against Nigeria and lobs the ball with his ankle to Robert Bauer. The second clip shows Mali’s three goals, which they scored in the U20 World Cup final 16 match in New Zealand against Ghana. A curler from 16 metres out, a cheeky lob over the Ghanaian keeper and a tremendously well-worked ream goal, which shows that Germany U20’s opponents don’t have any less talent than Öztunali, Brandt & Co. We could well be treated to a football feast on Sunday morning (3:00 CEST).
“I’m not so sure about that,“ said Frank Wormuth: “I’m expecting a closely contested game as we did against Nigeria, although the quality on the pitch will be a lot greater.” The U20 head coach raved about the strengths of their upcoming opponents: “They have a lot of terrifically skilled and technically good footballers in their ranks, which we shouldn’t let get into the game.” Very true, it’s evident from the video, what can happen otherwise.
Extremely fit players needed for Mali game
How do you stop such an attacking side like this? “We did it against Nigeria,” said Wormuth: “the first half was textbook stuff, as far as defending is concerned. If we can continue that for the full 90 minutes, then we can create problems for any side.” While the physical statures of the Nigerians and Malians are comparably strong, their styles of play differ by one point. “Mali don’t play long balls. They try to go forward with link-up play, something they succeed in doing very often,” Wormuth explained.
It’s not just the final 16, when Mali demonstrated against Ghana what they had in them. The West African side triumphed 2-0 over Mexico in their opening game. After a defeat to quarter-finalists Serbia (2-0), they put in a good performance again during a 1-1 draw to Uruguay.
To stop the flow of their game, the Germany U20s need extremely fit players. Therefore, lots of recuperation has been on the agenda in recent days. “After the hard-fought match against Nigeria, the team, they were almost dead on their feet, but we’re working on them getting back to top level against Mali again,” said Wormuth. Marc Stendera, who has had an outstanding tournament to date, is still suffering from a sore throat and is a doubt.
Departure from Christchurch confirmed
Regardless of the result, the Germany U20s have to depart from their ‘hometown’ of Christchurch following the quarterfinals, the location where the team have played all four of their tournament games so far. The departure won’t be easy for either party. “The people here grew into our hearts,” said Frank Wormuth. This mutual friendship is based on the Germany U20 team taking part in a variety of social projects in the past two weeks (visiting children’s hospital, kickabout with disabled children etc). Whole training sessions were also open to the public.
A possible semi-final could take place in Auckland on Wednesday at 19:30 local time (9:30 CEST). “Regardless of the outcome of the quarterfinal, we’ll fly off from here on Monday. It will either be on a major flight to Frankfurt or a smaller one to Auckland,” Frank Wormuth predicted. It’s certain the 54-year-old and the whole team would rather the one-and-a-half hour flight to the north island. They would much rather postpone the 25-hour flight home to Germany until 21st June, at best. The World Cup Final takes place the day before, also in Auckland…
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Two football videos are doing the rounds on the internet at the moment. The first shows Julian Brandt, who goes past three players against Nigeria and lobs the ball with his ankle to Robert Bauer. The second clip shows Mali’s three goals, which they scored in the U20 World Cup final 16 match in New Zealand against Ghana. A curler from 16 metres out, a cheeky lob over the Ghanaian keeper and a tremendously well-worked ream goal, which shows that Germany U20’s opponents don’t have any less talent than Öztunali, Brandt & Co. We could well be treated to a football feast on Sunday morning (3:00 CEST).
“I’m not so sure about that,“ said Frank Wormuth: “I’m expecting a closely contested game as we did against Nigeria, although the quality on the pitch will be a lot greater.” The U20 head coach raved about the strengths of their upcoming opponents: “They have a lot of terrifically skilled and technically good footballers in their ranks, which we shouldn’t let get into the game.” Very true, it’s evident from the video, what can happen otherwise.
Extremely fit players needed for Mali game
How do you stop such an attacking side like this? “We did it against Nigeria,” said Wormuth: “the first half was textbook stuff, as far as defending is concerned. If we can continue that for the full 90 minutes, then we can create problems for any side.” While the physical statures of the Nigerians and Malians are comparably strong, their styles of play differ by one point. “Mali don’t play long balls. They try to go forward with link-up play, something they succeed in doing very often,” Wormuth explained.
It’s not just the final 16, when Mali demonstrated against Ghana what they had in them. The West African side triumphed 2-0 over Mexico in their opening game. After a defeat to quarter-finalists Serbia (2-0), they put in a good performance again during a 1-1 draw to Uruguay.
To stop the flow of their game, the Germany U20s need extremely fit players. Therefore, lots of recuperation has been on the agenda in recent days. “After the hard-fought match against Nigeria, the team, they were almost dead on their feet, but we’re working on them getting back to top level against Mali again,” said Wormuth. Marc Stendera, who has had an outstanding tournament to date, is still suffering from a sore throat and is a doubt.
Departure from Christchurch confirmed
Regardless of the result, the Germany U20s have to depart from their ‘hometown’ of Christchurch following the quarterfinals, the location where the team have played all four of their tournament games so far. The departure won’t be easy for either party. “The people here grew into our hearts,” said Frank Wormuth. This mutual friendship is based on the Germany U20 team taking part in a variety of social projects in the past two weeks (visiting children’s hospital, kickabout with disabled children etc). Whole training sessions were also open to the public.
A possible semi-final could take place in Auckland on Wednesday at 19:30 local time (9:30 CEST). “Regardless of the outcome of the quarterfinal, we’ll fly off from here on Monday. It will either be on a major flight to Frankfurt or a smaller one to Auckland,” Frank Wormuth predicted. It’s certain the 54-year-old and the whole team would rather the one-and-a-half hour flight to the north island. They would much rather postpone the 25-hour flight home to Germany until 21st June, at best. The World Cup Final takes place the day before, also in Auckland…
