The team is fixed and the anticipation is building. Christian Wück announced his squad for the FIFA U17 World Cup today (Wednesday 20th September), exactly ten days before the flight to India. The DFB coach nominated 21 players, 17 of whom were part of the U17 Euros squad in Croatia in May, where Germany managed to reach the semi-finals. The Germany U17 team will face Costa Rica, Iran and Guinea in the upcoming World Cup, which will take place from 6th until 28th October. A total of 24 countries will take part in the U17 World Cup; the top two teams from each group as well as the four best third-placed teams will progress to the round of 16.
“We want to take the positive momentum from the Euros with us to India,” says Wück. The 44-year-old DFB coach is really looking forward to the tournament. “The World Cup will be a big challenge which will help the players to grow and mature. We want to hold on to the attacking style of play we had; we set a record for goals scored at the Euros, so now we want to show on the world stage that we can constantly outscore our opponents.”
Wück loses Früchtl due to Neuer injury
Germany have a relatively experienced squad at their disposal. “The squad is almost entirely made up of the team who worked together so well and impressed at the Euros,” says Wück. “Also, a few players are returning who are now fit again and in good form after injury lay-offs. Unfortunately, we have to leave out Christian Früchtl, who’ll stay at his club after an agreement was reached with Bayern Munich. All the discussions with clubs about the release of players went really smoothly.”
The U17s will play their first group match on 7th October against Costa Rica in Goa, which will get underway at 13:30 CEST. The squad will then face Iran three days later on 10th October (kick-off at 16:30 CEST), in Goa again. The final group match will follow on 13th October, when Germany will play against Guinea at 13:30 CEST.
Qualified as a Euros semi-finalist
In addition to Goa and Kochi, four other venues in India are available for use – New Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Guwahati and Kolkata. The Germany squad qualified for the competition due to a convincing Euros campaign in May in Croatia – as top of the group, they went through to the quarter-final, which they won 2-1 against the Netherlands. This sent them into the semi-finals, which meant that they automatically qualified for the World Cup in India. The U17s narrowly missed out on reaching the Euros final after being defeated by Spain 4-2 in a penalty shootout.
The U17s are now focused on the World Cup. Germany lost 2-0 in the round of 16 against Croatia at the previous tournament, which took place in 2015 in Chile. Defending champions Nigeria did not qualify for this tournament, while India, Niger and New Caledonia will be competing in their first U17 World Cup. The Germany team will be flying from Frankfurt to Goa on 30th September.
The World Cup squad
Goalkeepers: Luis Klatte (Hertha BSC), Luca Plogmann (Werder Bremen), Marian Prinz (Bayer 04 Leverkusen).
Defenders: Dominik Becker, Yann Aurel Bisseck (both FC Köln), Jan Boller (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Pascal Hackethal (Werder Bremen), Kilian Ludewig (RB Leipzig), Lars Lukas Mai, Alexander Nitzl (both Bayern Munich).
The team is fixed and the anticipation is building. Christian Wück announced his squad for the FIFA U17 World Cup today (Wednesday 20th September), exactly ten days before the flight to India. The DFB coach nominated 21 players, 17 of whom were part of the U17 Euros squad in Croatia in May, where Germany managed to reach the semi-finals. The Germany U17 team will face Costa Rica, Iran and Guinea in the upcoming World Cup, which will take place from 6th until 28th October. A total of 24 countries will take part in the U17 World Cup; the top two teams from each group as well as the four best third-placed teams will progress to the round of 16.
“We want to take the positive momentum from the Euros with us to India,” says Wück. The 44-year-old DFB coach is really looking forward to the tournament. “The World Cup will be a big challenge which will help the players to grow and mature. We want to hold on to the attacking style of play we had; we set a record for goals scored at the Euros, so now we want to show on the world stage that we can constantly outscore our opponents.”
Wück loses Früchtl due to Neuer injury
Germany have a relatively experienced squad at their disposal. “The squad is almost entirely made up of the team who worked together so well and impressed at the Euros,” says Wück. “Also, a few players are returning who are now fit again and in good form after injury lay-offs. Unfortunately, we have to leave out Christian Früchtl, who’ll stay at his club after an agreement was reached with Bayern Munich. All the discussions with clubs about the release of players went really smoothly.”
The U17s will play their first group match on 7th October against Costa Rica in Goa, which will get underway at 13:30 CEST. The squad will then face Iran three days later on 10th October (kick-off at 16:30 CEST), in Goa again. The final group match will follow on 13th October, when Germany will play against Guinea at 13:30 CEST.
Qualified as a Euros semi-finalist
In addition to Goa and Kochi, four other venues in India are available for use – New Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Guwahati and Kolkata. The Germany squad qualified for the competition due to a convincing Euros campaign in May in Croatia – as top of the group, they went through to the quarter-final, which they won 2-1 against the Netherlands. This sent them into the semi-finals, which meant that they automatically qualified for the World Cup in India. The U17s narrowly missed out on reaching the Euros final after being defeated by Spain 4-2 in a penalty shootout.
The U17s are now focused on the World Cup. Germany lost 2-0 in the round of 16 against Croatia at the previous tournament, which took place in 2015 in Chile. Defending champions Nigeria did not qualify for this tournament, while India, Niger and New Caledonia will be competing in their first U17 World Cup. The Germany team will be flying from Frankfurt to Goa on 30th September.
The World Cup squad
Goalkeepers: Luis Klatte (Hertha BSC), Luca Plogmann (Werder Bremen), Marian Prinz (Bayer 04 Leverkusen).
Defenders: Dominik Becker, Yann Aurel Bisseck (both FC Köln), Jan Boller (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Pascal Hackethal (Werder Bremen), Kilian Ludewig (RB Leipzig), Lars Lukas Mai, Alexander Nitzl (both Bayern Munich).
Midfielders: Elias Abouchabaka, Erik Majetschak (both RB Leipzig), Sahverdi Cetin (Eintracht Frankfurt), Yannik Keitel (SC Freiburg), John Yeboah (VfL Wolfsburg).
Forwards: Jann-Fiete Arp (Hamburger SV), Noah Awuku (Holstein Kiel), Dennis Jastrzembski, Jessic Ngankam (both Hertha BSC), Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn (RB Leipzig), Maurice Malone (FC Augsburg).
On call: Eric Hottmann, Jose-Enrique Rios Alonso (both VfB Stuttgart), Charles-Jesaja Herrmann (VfL Wolfsburg), Robin Kehr (Borussia Dortmund), Stephan Mensah (Karlsruher SC), Daniel Asante Owusu, Joshua Vagnoman (both Hamburger SV), Julian Rieckmann (Werder Bremen), Okan Mete Yilmaz (Schalke 04).
