New Delhi: Group A runners-up Colombia are all set to take on their Group C counterparts Germany in a round-of-16 match of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Monday.
Both teams qualified for the knockout stage with two wins and one loss. They also shared the same number of goals in the group stages. But in the upcoming game, both teams would like to give that extra which could helped them to advance in the prestigious meet.
Colombia lost to Ghana but later clinched consecutive victories against India and the US to seal a berth in the knock-out stages.
Germany, on the other hand, defeated Costa Rica and Guinea while losing to Iran in the Group stages to qualify for the second round.
For Colombia, all eyes will again be on promising star Juan Penaloza, who contributed handsomely in the group games. Apart from the brace against India, Penaloza also played a critical role in the match against the United States, scoring an important goal and an assist in their must-win tie.
Colombia’s coach Orlando Restrepo admitted that the change in the strategy helped them to overpower the United States and they would like to do the same when they face European powerhouse Germany.
“We have been following a competitive strategy. In case of United States, we applied different strategy and that came out good for us and same we will be going to do in the second match,” Restrepo told reporters ahead of the match against Germany.
In Kolkata, England are looking no further than the pre-quarter final against Japan on Tuesday and the team would not get carried away by their perfect finish in Group F, coach Steve Cooper said.
The Young Lions won all three of their games in resounding fashion scoring 11 goals and leaking just two.
“It was business as usual for us. We weed to look back at the things we did really well. And rest, recover, prepare and get a plan ready for a strong Japan team. We are happy still to be here at Kolkata. It was important we got the result tonight make that happen,” Cooper told reporters at a post match press conference here after England thrash Iraq 4-0 in their last group engagement.
“We are pleased with qualification and returning with nine points, scoring 11 goals and conceding two. That’s very pleasing. The first objective was to get out of the group and to do it as top team in a tough group is something that the players should get a lot of recognition for.
“But we are looking no further than Japan. Nobody’s going to get carried away. It’s really important that we reflect on the good things that happened tonight some of the things we can improve on as well. We always have the mentality of how we can get better and strive to reach even better levels.
“The group is very together. They have all had experience of playing in this wonderful event and at this wonderful stadium. They have all had good returns from this tournament so far. The obvious ones are the points and scoring some goals. But we are also planning for the long term as well. The outfield players have had substantial minutes on the pitch but we have only had three games. It’s something that is very pleasing,” the coach said.
