There is a lot of excitement in the Germany U17s camp in Chile ahead of the match against Croatia in Conepcion tonight (21:00 CET). It has been somewhat overshadowed by the serious injury to Borussia Dortmund’s Patrick Fritsch, who suffered a cruciate ligament tear in training on Tuesday.
"The team were in a state of shock," explained DFB coach Christian Wück. "It is our job as coaches to fire them up again and prepare for the match against Croatia." The Germany U17s were in a similar position in the European Championship in Bulgaria, which may work to their advantage. Playmaker Niklas Dorsch suffered an injury in the first match against Belgium (2-0) and was ruled out for the rest of the tournament – but they still managed to reach the final.
The way in which the team made up for the loss of Niklas and gave their all was exceptional," said Wück. After finishing second in Bulgaria, they secured qualification to the World Cup in Chile, thus allowing coach Wück to return to a major tournament. He is hoping for a similar reaction from his current team tonight.
Croatia: tactically aware and physically strong
This kind of reaction will be necessary too, as Croatia represent a tough challenge for the DFB boys. The southern European side are very strong physically and have an aggressive style. From a tactical perspective, both teams use a 4-2-3-1 system. "We have identified different focuses, and will be flexible in our system," said Wück. "While Croatia will hold their positions for 90 minutes and may not react to the opposition, we will change it up."
Whichever system they end up using, one thing is certain for the 42-year-old: "It will be a very tight game, that will be close right up until the end." This is because of the high quality of both sets of players. Germany lost their second game of the year 1-2 against Mexico recently. Croatia on the other hand are unbeaten in their last 11 matches.
Captain Nikola Moro’s side beat Bulgaria 2-0, Austria 1-0 and drew with Spain 0-0 in the group stages of the European Championships in Bulgaria. In the quarter final they conceded their first goal of the tournament and had to go to penalties against Belgium. In the decisive World Cup playoff they defeated Italy 1-0 and booked their place in Chile. At the World Cup they have drawn 1-1 against host Chile, 2-2 against USA and beaten Nigeria 2-1.
Wück: "Everyone should be at 100%"
The undoubted star of the team is playmaker Nikola Moro, who provided two assists in the win against the defending champions. "He is our captain, our number 10, the leader of the team," said manager Dario Basic in an interview with FIFA.com. The German team will have to pay close attention to Moro, especially as Wück has ruled out man marking the Croat number 10.
Other than the injured Patrick Fritsch, all players are available for Wück. The four free days in between the Mexico game and the round of 16 have done the team good. "Everyone should be at 100%," said the ex footballer. "Despite that, there will be a couple of changes to the starting XI."
