Today another FIFA final will be staged in the city of Bielefeld where Germany will take on surprise finalists Nigeria in the Women’s U-20 World Cup. After nearly three weeks of football and 90 goals, the curtains come down on tournament that has largely been billed as a dress rehearsal for next year’s senior event.
As hosts, Germany are favourites to win the match although the Falconets of Nigeria cannot be ruled out. Both Germany and Nigeria have perfect records going into the final and that should provide for an entertaining match.
Speaking about today’s final, Hamburg SV’s midfielder Kim Kulig stated that Germany’s opponents cannot be ruled out.
“Nigeria are an African team, and it’s never easy playing against teams like them. We faced Congo DR back in Chile. The matches tend to be tough battles, since the Africans are very quick and athletic. Nigeria are a really good team and they deserve their place in the final.”
Nigeria is also exuding confidence ahead of this match as was demonstrated by their coach Ndem Egan.
“We will also have to play against the home crowd but that does not distract us because we know very well what we are going to face. It won’t dampen our morale.”
However, this will not be the only match of the day as South Korea will face Colombia in the third place play-off. Losing by an enormous 4 goal margin to Germany in the Semi final, South Korea will not be taking any chances against Colombia.
Since inception of this tournament, Korea has only managed to reach the semi finals twice; in 1983 and 2002 and finishing fourth on both occasions so despite them crashing out at the same point this year, Choi In-Chuel habours hope that he might be able to bag a medal for his country in their third attempt.
“I’m very proud of my team for reaching the semi-finals. We’ll be taking our mental, physical and technical preparations for the match very seriously indeed.”
“In the history of South Korean football, we’ve only managed to reach the semi-finals twice before, in 1983 (at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Mexico) and in 2002 (FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™). We missed out on the bronze on both those occasions, so I want my team to become the first to go home with a medal.”
Today’s final will be entertaining to say the least and picking out a clear winner will not be an easy task, however, what i am sure of is the fact that this will be a high scoring match.
Photo Credit: from pixilla.de
