As with Croatia v Belgium, penalties were needed to divide two sides who had fought out the most intense match yet at the Championships, with Germany winning the penalty shootout 4-2 after a 0-0 draw in normal time.
Apart from a deadlocked opening 10 minutes and a barmy 39th-minute rush of German chances, the Spanish dominated the first half playing with the vivacity, tempo and intensity they had lacked in the group stages. As many chances as they created though, they still couldn’t finish but they left the Germans visibly shaken in the first half after being turned inside-out by the their opponents.
In a marked improvement on their earlier tournament form Olmo, Villalba, Kuki and Perez were all excellent, first in hustling their opponents out of possession – where the likes of Abu Hanna, Nesseler, Gul, Janelt, and Busam were all particularly wasteful – and then dizzying them with their speed, touch and clever movement.
It was that intensity which so disturbed the German keeper Frommann who was rushed off the ball by Villalba, allowing Kuki to shot, but his weak right-footed effort gave Frommann the chance to redeem himself. The next 10 minutes were Spain’s; Perez cut in from the right before firing wide, then Kuki smashed a shot from 20 yards which Frommann did well to parry. From another well-worked move a few minutes afterwards, Olmo was unlucky to narrowly miss out getting on the end of Villalba’s cut-back.
On the 25-minute mark Wuck, the German coach, made a point of sending out three subs to warm up while play was paused for a throw-in. His agitation didn’t lessen as the normally-composed coach was chastised by the fourth official for his protestations as the half wore on. The calm manner in which he took the telling-off was a clear sign of recognition that his true frustrations were with his team and not the officials.
Throughout the half the mind couldn’t help but go back to the Germans’ opening game against the Belgium, where they were outplayed in much the same manner by technically better, physically weaker opponents and yet still managed to win. While they hadn’t managed to create an opening of note in the half, it appeared they might pull the Belgian stunt off again, when they had two brilliant chances inside a minute before the end of the half.
Schmidt, who’d gone largely unsupplied as his midfield team-mates struggled to keep the ball under the Spanish barrage, got in down the right and cut the ball back for Kohlert. His first touch took him past Amo, before his deft chip from a tight angle was saved by Inaki for corner. This was taken deep by Schmidt and, in a clearly-planned training ground routine, three Germans peeled round the back where Gul rose to nod the ball back into the centre for Eggestein to narrowly head over the crossbar. While it would have been completely against the balance (or imbalance) of play it was feasible, on chances alone, that Germany could have gone in at the break with a 2-0 lead.
In the second half, it became evident how much the Spanish had put into the first. A far more even contest ensued in which the Spanish failed to create openings other than long-range shots. The same was largely true of Germany, although their shots were better, with the immensely impressive Felix Passlack coming close when Burnic’s angled pass picked him out and he charged away from two Spanish markers before hitting the ball just wide from 20 yards. It was he again who had the next best chance, using his left foot this time from a similar distance to test Inaki.
The tighter second half, played between two teams still exhausted mentally and physically from the first, made penalties an unsurprising conclusion. The shootout itself was a tale of two keepers and two captains. Inaki and Fromman both dived the right way for two penalties. Of those four savable penalties, Passlack and Alena (the two best players in regular time) were responsible for two, but it was Frommann who won the game for Germany by saving twice (first from Alena) and Inaki who cruelly lost it for Spain, failing to get his palms to two shots he should have kept out.
The Germans will face the winner of England v Russia, while the valiant Spanish have a playoff game to decide whether they will qualify for the 2015 Under-17 World Cup. After this showing, it would be a shame if they don’t.
This post comes courtesy of Samuel King, who you can follow on Twitter @KingSRV.
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