By Shoubhik Mukhopadhyay,
AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: Germany U-17 National Coach Christian Wuck stated that Germany’s Confederations Cup triumph is acting as a “great motivation” for his present U-17 squad.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference a day prior to the Round of 16 opener against Colombia, he admitted: "Surely it’s a great motivation. The boys who won it are 3 to 4 years older than my boys. Our boys are also getting in the groove slowly and looking up to them to reach the next level.”

Wuck maintained that their primary aim is to “develop the players for the senior team.” Referring to a question as to why Germany despite winning won the World Cup four times are yet to win the U-17 World Cup title, he added: "Our primary focus is to maintain the supply line to the Senior Team. Obviously, we need to win titles but we have to develop the players for the senior team.”

“It's important for players to play in such a massive tournament to gauge themselves and get ready for the next level. It'll be good for the fans if we win and we'll try our best to make it happen.”

However, Wuck also mentioned some of the players like skipper Arp are already thriving to attain the next level. "Some of my boys are already playing in Bundesliga and they're ready for the bigger challenge. I think, maybe the European players in this age group are a bit slower compared to African and Asian players and that's why we get edged out.”

The match is scheduled to kick-off at 5 PM.

(Picture courtesy: www.fifa.com)