Germans put 10 on South Africa
By Ian Prescott Tobago
The Germans came into the current tournament only as Europe's third qualifiers and had lost 2-0 to the USA in the Nordic Cup held in Denmark in July, but so far they can do no wrong here, having beat Mexico 9-0 in their opening Group B match last Sunday.
Ironically, the USA, considered the best Under-17 women's team in the world, were eliminated on penalty kicks by Canada in the CONCACAF qualifiers.
Making full use of their height and power advantage, Germany accomplished in one half what they had done against Mexico when they scored nine goals against just one for the little South Africans.
To their credit, the South Africans, who lost their opener 3-1 to South Korea, battled hard in the second half and conceded just once.
Afterwards, German coach Ralph Peter announced his team's intention to win the group by beating South Korea in their final match on Sunday. But, he felt the South Koreans were a good team who defended well and his girls need to be at their best.
"We did not play very well in the first ten minutes, only began playing better after we scored. We did not play well in the second half," stated Peter, who announced that his girls had been together two years and had played many pre-tournament matches.
In contrast, South African coach Solomon Luvhengo said the two defeats were a learning experience for his young girls, himself and South Africa football.
"It let us know that we cannot just have a camp two weeks before a tournament and hope to do well at a World Cup," he said, while lowering his sights and hoping to at least get a point from their final match against Mexico.
Yesterday's game was over as a contest after half-hour when the Germans led 5-0, despite striker Jermaine Seoposenwe giving South African supporters something to cheer when netting their only goal from a near-post header in the 31st minute.
The South Africans had held out for 11 minutes before Germany's creative force, left-winger Lena Lotzez, put them ahead, cutting in past her marker and curling the ball to the far corner.
And then the flood gates opened. Striker Kyra Malinowski (19th, 30th, 37th and 56th) scored four times, including a first half hat-trick, while both Melanie Leupolz (25th & 25th) and (Lena Peterman (35th & 37th) got doubles.
By the time the first half ended South Africa were under such pressure that Seoposenwe abandoned the front and dropped back to defend, where she turned a corner past her goalie Kaylin Swart for a 45th minute own goal.
Not that Germany did anything so spectacularly. But, powerful, fast, and organised, they did everything properly.
The German recipe was simple at times, hit the long ball, outrun the little South Africans and put in the cross to their big centre forwards.
Many times, the South Africans forgot defence, as when four Germans were left alone at the back post where Malinowski (56th) netted her fourth goal and seventh in two matches, to take the score to 10-1.
South Africa stemmed the tide of goals for a long time through hard work, sometimes luck, and also with the help of a lot of errant shooting from their opponents, including in the 84th when Lotzen went around the South African keeper and still put the ball over the crossbar--probably the miss of the tournament.
Source - trinidadexpress.com