Germany vs. Colombia World Cup U17 Preview: Team news and predicted lineups | OneFootball

Germany will start their defense of their U17 World Cup title with a game against Colombia on Tuesday. A couple of years ago, Christian Wück managed to win the competition for Germany for the very first time in Indonesia. Wück is now the head coach of Germany women's national team.

Marc-Patrick Meister is taking charge of the side for the first of multiple annual tournaments in Qatar. Although Lennart Karl had to prioritize his big breakthrough at Bayern, Wisdom Mike is included in Meister’s squad for the tournament.

Furthermore, Alexander Staff, who won gold in this year’s Fritz Walter Medal for U17 players, is expected to be one of the stars of the tournament. The Eintracht Frankfurt striker scored six goals in the qualifiers, which is one short of the top-scorer, Karl.

North Korea and debutants El Salvador complete the group as FIFA organized a 48-team tournament for the very first time. Including this year’s competition, Qatar will host five successive editions as the format changes to be an annual festival.

Germany beat Canada 2-1 in a final preparation game last Thursday. Staff and substitute Lasse Eickel scored the goals for one of the favorites in Qatar. Mike wasn’t part of the squad in the game played in the UAE. Moroccan referee Hamza El Fariq is assigned for Germany’s opening World Cup fixture.

Colombia returned to the stage after missing the past two tournaments. In their last participation, they reached the Round of 16 in India. Their best record is two fourth-placed finishes in 2003 and 2009.

Freddy Hurtado’s team only has one player who is not currently playing in Colombia. Deivi Quiñones, who will wear the number 10, is from Ecuador's LDU Quito. Santiago Londoño scored five goals in the South American U17 competition. In the competition that also served as a qualification for the World Cup, they lost the final to Brazil on penalties.

The tournament started on Monday with eight games from the first four groups. Tunisia and Portugal scored half a dozen goals in big wins against Oceania representatives Fiji and New Caledonia, respectively. Hosts Qatar lost to Italy with the only goal of the game scored by Borussia Dortmund academy player Samuele Inacio.

Elsewhere, South Africa and Costa Rica recorded impressive results despite playing with ten men for more than 50 minutes. South Africa beat Bolivia 3-1, while Costa Rica picked up a precious point against the UAE.

The African champions, Morocco, surprisingly lost to Japan, and Senegal drew goalless with Croatia. Argentina came from behind to start their campaign with a 3-2 victory over Belgium. Including Germany’s game against Colombia, the remaining 16 first group stage games will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Predicted Lineups

Germany U17: Trippel; Turay, Hawighorst ©, Vali Fard, Domnic; Kaba, Bekir İş, Ley; Mike; Staff, Al Khalaf

Colombia U17: Mendoza; Solarte, García, Herazo, Macías; Orozco ©, Flórez, Agámez; Cataño, Londoño, Quiñones