U-17 WC: Senior team's performances not on minds of Germany's colts: Coach Wueck

Germany's U-17 coach Christian Wueck on Wednesday brushed aside talk of the youth team not winning any World Cup compared to the senior side's four trophies will play on the minds of his colts, stating the idea is to develop players for the "A-team".

"No. In no case," Wueck replied to a question on whether his charges are rattled by the thought of Germany senior team bagging four World Cups including the last one in 2014.

"I think it's very important for us to play in Germany that we have to show good development to prepare us to play for the A-team. It's important for each player to have this tournament and have European championships to develop," the coach said.

Germany will play their quarter-final tie here on October 22 against either Brazil or Honduras.

Germany's best finish at a U-17 World Cup has been fourth place in 1985. They have participated in the tournament only four times (1985, 1989, 1995, 2015).

The Germans finished second in Group C behind Iran, who surprisingly thrashed them 0-4 in the tournament's biggest upset so far. Germany started their campaign by beating Costa Rica 2-1 and getting past Guinea 3-1 in their final game.

In the round of 16 clash, they thrashed Colombia 4-0 to enter the quarters. Asked if playing the pre-quarters in New Delhi where at this time of the year the weather was different to Kolkata, posed a problem, the coach said: "No it's not important where we play. I think it's very important for us that we have a good pitch."

"So I think the pitch in Delhi is very good, the pitch here is also ok. So it will be a very good game, not important if it's against Brazil and Honduras," he added.

The Germans landed in the city on Tuesday evening and toiled hard at the Salt Lake Stadium training site 1 on Wednesday morning.

--IANS

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