The Germany U17s national team have been knocked out of the European Championship following an unlucky 1-0 defeat to Spain. Having lost the opening game 3-1 to Italy, Michael Feichtenbeiner’s side now go into their remaining group game against Austria on Friday unable to progress to the knockout stages. The early exit also means the U17s will miss out on the U17s World Cup in Brazil in October.
"This is an extremely sad moment for the team. The lads are very disappointed and were desperate to make it past the group stage," explained Feichtenbeiner after the match. "We put in a lot of effort to limit the amount of goal scoring opportunities for the opposition and went into the game with a calculated risk, because we knew the group standings weren’t in our favour. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to convert any of our attacks or chances into goals," added the coach.
"On par with a strong opponent"
"It’s such a shame, because the boys played with such passion and concentration and matched a strong opponent. It was a very tight game, and Spain had the rub of the green," said the DFB coach, who concluded the following: "The two games against Spain and Italy have taught us that we’re not clever enough to beat the top teams at the moment. I’d like to congratulate both teams on progressing. In our final game against Austria we’d like to get a win so we can end our tournament on a high."
Late penalty the decider
In an end-to-end game, very-much in the balance, it was a penalty in the 79th minute that decided the outcome. Pablo Moreno was brought down in the penalty area and converted the resulting spot kick himself. The German youngsters refused to surrender and came close to equalising through Adeyemi in the 88th minute, but the Spanish keeper denied him, making the final score 1-0.
The Germany U17s national team have been knocked out of the European Championship following an unlucky 1-0 defeat to Spain. Having lost the opening game 3-1 to Italy, Michael Feichtenbeiner’s side now go into their remaining group game against Austria on Friday unable to progress to the knockout stages. The early exit also means the U17s will miss out on the U17s World Cup in Brazil in October.
"This is an extremely sad moment for the team. The lads are very disappointed and were desperate to make it past the group stage," explained Feichtenbeiner after the match. "We put in a lot of effort to limit the amount of goal scoring opportunities for the opposition and went into the game with a calculated risk, because we knew the group standings weren’t in our favour. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to convert any of our attacks or chances into goals," added the coach.
"On par with a strong opponent"
"It’s such a shame, because the boys played with such passion and concentration and matched a strong opponent. It was a very tight game, and Spain had the rub of the green," said the DFB coach, who concluded the following: "The two games against Spain and Italy have taught us that we’re not clever enough to beat the top teams at the moment. I’d like to congratulate both teams on progressing. In our final game against Austria we’d like to get a win so we can end our tournament on a high."
Late penalty the decider
In an end-to-end game, very-much in the balance, it was a penalty in the 79th minute that decided the outcome. Pablo Moreno was brought down in the penalty area and converted the resulting spot kick himself. The German youngsters refused to surrender and came close to equalising through Adeyemi in the 88th minute, but the Spanish keeper denied him, making the final score 1-0.
