U17 World Cup: Panama 0-2 Germany

June 27th, 2011 | by: Jan | Comments Off

I accidentally missed the beginning of the game and tuned in for the second half. As such I could only watch some highlights of the first half. It seems I missed the majority of German chances – and the two brilliant goals of course. Maybe you can help out with a quick first half analysis in the comments.

Second Half. In the beginning Panama tried a few things but really struggled to create chances, while Germany sat on a comfortable lead. Things got a bit more interesting following Okan Aydin’s red card – a clumsy attempt to block the ball. Interesting in the sense of how well Germany would cope being one man down. And they did really well, switching to a 4-4-1 and keeping control of the match. In fact Panama couldn’t really create any chances, while Germany had a few opportunities to extend the lead. I’m still not sure whether Germany’s defending has really improved or whether Germany’s opponents just got worse. Group E looks like it was one of the weaker ones in this tournament. Kudos to Steffen Freund for managing his line-ups and substitutions well enough to allow all players (except for the two reserve keepers) to play some World Cup minutes.

Players. While he got sent off, Leverkusen’s Okan Aydin deserves a mention for his spectacular goal and because he’s making a habit of it (vs Ecuador, vs Netherlands). Hopefully he’ll only get suspended for one game. Cologne’s right back/right midfielder Mitchell Weiser is also coming good and showed great control for his goal. I also liked Stuttgart’s Sven Mende who played some good clean passes in midfield. Anyone you would add?

Round of 16. Germany will play the U.S. on Thursday. The U.S. finished second in Group D ahead of New Zealand by virtue of drawing lots – with Uzbekistan topping the group after beating the Czech Republic. Germany only managed a 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic during the Euros. I somehow doubt that tells us anything about the strength of Group D though.