Ten goals scored, zero conceded and progression to the quarter-final. The Germany Olympic team proved in their dominant 10-0 victory over Fiji in Belo Horizonte that they are still on track to achieve their Olympic goals, and move into the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro. After finishing in second place in Group C, head coach Horst Hrubesch’s team will face Group D winners Portugal in Brasilia on Saturday (18:00 CEST/13:00 local time).
"We took the game very seriously", says Sven Bender. "We didn’t even think about what Mexico or South Korea were doing - we just wanted to make sure that we did what we had to." The team did their job very well. Up until the 78th minute, Germany were set to go into the quarter-final as group winners, but then South Korea grabbed a late winner in their match against Mexico - they will now face Honduras in Belo Horizonte on Sunday (00:00 CEST).
Süle: "Now anything is possible"
"We now have to travel to Brasilia and play another game on Saturday", says centre-back Niklas Süle. But at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter where the quarter-final will take place. "There are now only eight teams left in the tournament and so anything is possible", says the 20-year-old from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
One player in particular could not stop smiling after the final whistle. Nils Petersen made his first start of the tournament, and the SC Freiburg striker managed to bag five goals. Nevertheless, the 27-year-old was very modest: “It is great to receive such great service from your teammates. It was a gift for any striker and you can’t ask for more than five goals."
Gnabry on Portugal: "It will be a difficult game"
Germany U21s’ last encounter with Portugal at the 2015 European Championship ended in a 5-0 defeat. In Timo Horn, Matthias Ginter, Max Meyer and Serge Gnabry, four players from the current squad played in the match in Olmütz. For Gnabry, who just like Petersen has also scored five goals after three games, the clash with Portugal on Saturday is not about revenge. "We played with a completely different team last year, just like Portugal did", says the 20-year-old attacker from Arsenal. "It will be a difficult game, but we will give our all to take the next step into the semi-final."
Today, a regeneration session will take place in Belo Horizonte, and then the team will fly to their team hotel in Brasilia at 14:00 local time. The preparation for the final part of their Olympic mission will start there: getting a place in the Olympic Village. That comes automatically with progression to the semi-final.
