The Germany U17s are on the brink of the quarter finals of the European Championships in Bulgaria. After the 1-0 win against Slovenia, the second victory in the group stage following the 2-0 win against Belgium, Christian Wück’s side just need a point from Tuesday’s game against the Czech Republic to secure passage to the knockout round. With Belgium beating the Czech Republic 3-0, both sides are on three points behind Germany on six. Slovenia are pointless at the bottom.
In the Lazur-Stadion in Burgas, the German side were focussed from the beginning and were rewarded after just eight minutes. Johannes Eggstein’s initial shot was blocked at the last second, but the Werder Bremen striker scored a screamer from the resulting corner to put Germany ahead.
Frommann denies Slovenia equaliser
The Slovenian’s should have bounced back immediately through captain Jan Mlakar, but SC Freiburg keeper Constanin Frommann saved brilliantly from close range. Wück’s side piled on the pressure after that and created several good chances.
Felix Passlack missed the chance to score his second of the tournament, with a curling shot from the right, before Erdinc Karakas forced some heroics from VfB Bochum keeper Rok Vodišek with a deflected shot. Werder Bremen’s Niklas Schmidt followed up with a couple of chances but was unable to beat Vodišek to make it two.
Burnic wraps it up late on
Once again the German side were more alert in the opening stages of the second half. Eggstein found himself free in the box after a through ball from Schmidt, but Vodišek denied the Germans again. Wück’s side lost the momentum somewhere after that, as the wingers became less influential and the German side resorted to long-range efforts.
Slovenia never really threatened, but with such a narrow lead, it would only have taken one good attack to find an equaliser. Late in the second half, Dzenis Burnic scored the decisive second goal, following some great build-up play from Dortmund teammate Passlack.