Götze, Ter Stegen and Thy finally have successors: Germans win Under-17 EC

Germany has won the European Football Championship for players under 17. In the final in Budapest, defending champion France was defeated after penalty kicks (5-4). After 90 minutes, the score was 0-0.

For the Germans it is the first final victory since 2009, then with players such as Marc-André ter Stegen, Mario Götze and current PEC Zwolle striker Lennart Thy.

Germany escaped a rushing deficit after about twenty seconds on Friday night. Maxim Dal almost worked a Frenchman’s cross into his own goal, but to his relief saw the ball disappear over the goal via goalkeeper Max Schmitt.

That was all that could be said regarding the first half, which was hugely disappointing. Only after halftime both teams had opportunities to break the game open.

France created danger twice in the space of a few minutes. Substitute Yanis Issoufou bumped into goalkeeper Schmitt and moments later Tidiam Gomes shot just wide.

Ten minutes before time, German substitute Bence Dardai, son of Hertha BSC coach Pal Dardai, popped a free kick against the underside of the crossbar.

A goal also failed to materialize in the open closing stages, leading to penalty shootouts immediately afterwards.

Fodé Sylla failed in the series to help the French to the European Championship title, after an earlier miss by Noah Darvich. Sylla saw his effort turned by Schmitt, keeping Germany alive.

Saimon Bouabré shot at the post after Paris Brunner’s 4-4, then Assan Ouedraogo brought the Germans to ecstasy.

The Netherlands played a supporting role at this European Championship by losing to England (4-1) and Switzerland (2-0) in the group stage. Only against Croatia was a point taken (1-1).

With the elimination, a series of five European Championships in which the Orange did survive the group stage came to an end. In 2016, the semifinals were the finish line, in 2017 the quarterfinals. This was followed by two titles (2018 and 2019) and a final place (2022).