FIFA U17 World Cup 2017: Germany coach blames the referee for their exit
German U17 head coach Christian Wück put the blame fair and square on the referee for their exit from the World Cup. Speaking to the press following the game about what happened in the ninety minutes, an emotional Wuck breathed fire as he declared that the referee was "the difference" in the game between the two side.
"Did you see what was happening in the field?" Wuck asked rather sarcastically on being asked what was the reason for their loss. "If you had seen the same game as me, you already know why we lost the game."
Wuck went on an all-out tirade against the USA referee Jair Marrufo, who he believed failed to live to the standards alleging that he failed to give his team a clear penalty in the second half.
"Just look at (Jan) Boller’s eyebrows. Before they took the lead. Just look at his eyebrows. He had a cut in his eye, and it was a clear foul," fumed Wuck. "I have no qualms about losing a match. But if it’s like this, then it’s very very harsh. Before every World Cup game, each team gets instruction from the referees that every elbow in the face is a clear foul. It’s a red card, and here it’s not even a foul! I don’t believe it."
Germany, after looking a bit shaky in the opening minutes captured the lead in the 21st minute when Jann-Fiete Arp slotted in from the penalty spot after John Yeboah was hacked down in the box. Brazil, however, came on strong in the second half and won the game with two fantastic goals from Weverson and Paulinho.
The Europeans, who have never won the U17 World Cup looked the better side in the opening 45 minutes and the German coach was not happy that they could not capitalise on their advantage in the first half.
"If there is one criticism that I can have of my own teams is that we failed to score the second," quipped Wuck. "We had chances but we failed to convert them. On the day, we were just not lucky enough."
The Germans peculiarly had a short but intense training session in the morning of the game. The coach, however, brushed off any chance of that leading to fatigue and eventually losing the game.