Sports After Dark

A five star performance from tournment favourites Germany has put the rest of the teams at the Under 17 Women’s World Cup on notice as the Germans crushed Costa Rica 5-0 in Christchruch.

From the beginning of the game, the physically bigger German team showed their class and skill, dominating their South American opponents for almost the full 90 minutes. Costa Rica were able to generate a couple of half chances in the early stages of the match, but never really threatened the German goal for the rest of the match.

Light rain left the pitch slippery and make a high tempo affair like the tournament opener impossible, however both teams adjusted to the conditions well, attempting to play a shorter passing game.

A noisy crowd, made up mostly of school children, cheered on both teams as they produced a very entertaining spectacle. While almost all of the fans were neutral observers, most were hoping for a German win.

Germany opened their account after just 17 minutes when a brilliant ball was played over the top to Lynn Mester who slotted the ball deftly through the keeper’s legs. Just 20 minutes later the Germans had their second goal from another ball over the top, this time chipped home by Dzsenifer Marozsan.

Costa Rica struggled against the more disciplined Germans, having trouble stringing together more than four passes and were forced to live off scraps of possession, but did look dangerous on the counter attack.

Germany went into the break up 3-0 after a second goal to Marozsan who was set up brilliantly by Isabelle Linden’s low cross.

Another goal just after the break, this time to Turid Knaak, sealed the win for Germany but to their credit they did not retreat into a defensive shell, continuing to play attacking football throughout the game. Alexandra Popp almost picked up Germany’s fifth goal after a wonderful run down the left flank, only to be denied by the woodwork but soon after Tabea Kemme did make it five, slamming the ball home after Costa Rica failed to clear from a corner.

Like their opponents, Costa Rica deserve a great deal of credit for not giving up, depsite a win being out of reach. They appeared to have picked up a consolation goal midway through the second half, only to have it ruled out for offside.

Germany’s next opponent is Ghana on Saturday, while Costa Rica take on North Korea. Ghana and North Korea drew 1-1 in their group game.

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The Germany sound warning to U17 World Cup by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.