SOLO, CENTRAL JAVA (VOA) —
Through a penalty shootout against the French national team in the final round, Germany won the U17 World Cup on Saturday (2/12) night. Previously, Christian Richard Wück’s team managed to hold the score 2-2 against the Les Blueus Muda team at the Manahan Stadium, Solo, Central Java.
Wueck admitted that he was proud of the German national team’s achievements. “The 2023 U-17 World Cup title is very proud for us. This title is the first in our history. This title has been a long wait after participating in 11 editions of the U-17 World Cup,” said Wück.
Germany won first place, followed by France as runner up and Mali in third place. Germany’s 2023 U17 World Cup title is the second after winning the 2023 U17 European Cup last June which was also won after a penalty shootout against France.
German players celebrate their victory in the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia football final match against France at Manahan Stadium Solo, Central Java on December 2 2023. (Photo: Adek BERRY/AFP)
Wück further talked about the many hereditary players who joined his team. “This team is very diverse, and our players have a lot of diverse characteristics, this is what makes us valuable, very good, all the players have German backgrounds, and have ties to each other in Germany,” said Wück at a press conference in Solo, Friday ( 1/12).
In the Germany U-17 squad there are Paris Brunner who has Congolese blood, Assan Oueadraogo who has Burkina Faso blood, and Bilal Yalcinkaya who has Turkish blood.
After qualifying for the round of 16 last week, the Deutscher Fußball-Bund DFB or German Football Association account also uploaded photos of four U-17 players of German descent, including Charles Herrmann, Almugera Kabar, Paris Brunner, and Fayssal Harchaoui, on their social media accounts.
2023 Indonesia U-17 World Cup final match between Germany and France at Manahan Stadium Solo, Central Java, 2 December 2023. (Photo: Adek BERRY/AFP)
“We are proud of the diversity of our U17s, who are pouring their hearts out on the pitch in Indonesia today. The commitment to diversity is deeply rooted in the DFB’s constitution – as are the values of tolerance and respect,” read the DFB’s official statement.
The post received many racist comments from fans, which made the DFB deactivate the comments function. Wück continues to defend his foster children who are being targeted on social media. “We should prevent and not give place to racist people’s comments,” stressed the 50-year-old Wück.
French Controversy
Controversy also hit the French national team at the U17 World Cup. France U-17 player, Yanis Ali Issoufou, is in the spotlight at the world junior level football event. The highlight came from a post by one of the African media on social media, which said that Issoufou had previously also played for Niger Republic in the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in June 2022. The 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifications are part of the initial series leading to the 2023 U-17 World Cup.
The Senegal U-17 team also protested by submitting a letter of complaint to FIFA to disqualify the Les Bleus team from the 2023 U17 World Cup. Not only Senegal, the Burkina Faso U-17 team, who were France U-17’s opponents in the group phase, took the same steps.
2023 Indonesia U-17 World Cup final match between Germany and France at Manahan Stadium Solo, Central Java, 2 December 2023. (Photo: Adek BERRY/AFP)
According to VOA research, the 17 year old Yanis was absent when his team met Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals of the 2023 U-17 World Cup. Based on the list of players, at that time Yanis Issofou’s name was labeled ‘A’ or was absent against Senegal.
Meanwhile, in the match against Uzbekistan, Yanis was absent with the label ‘N’ or Not Eligible To Play, meaning he was not eligible to play. Usually, the N label is applied to players who have been suspended or sanctioned. Until the final round, Yanis Issofou still received the N label or did not meet the requirements to compete.
France U-17 coach, Jean-Luc Vannuchi, also spoke about the polemic involving one of his team’s children. Vannuchi doesn’t want to bother with this problem. “This case is not my problem. Because, my current job is to focus on preparing the players for the match. “There’s bigger work,” he said when met at a training session last week. (ys/em)