CHRISTCHURCH: Two marquee sides Brazil and Germany began their FIFA Under-20 World Cup campaign by registering contrasting wins here yesterday.
Germany cruised to a convincing win in their opener, hammering Fiji 8-1 with absolute disdain, while five-time winners Brazil recovered from 1-2 down to beat Africa’s champions Nigeria 4-2.
A rampant first-half performance, with Hany Mukhtar and Niklas Stark getting three and two respectively, saw the 1981 winners Germany storm into an unassailable lead.
The Pacific nation’s fans did have something to cheer about when Iosefo Verevou managed an unexpected consolation strike.
Fiji started out in a fashion that they no doubt would have been pretty content with, defending stoutly in the opening stages, though possession was all Germany’s.
However, with the islanders unable to retain possession, it was little surprise when the deadlock was broken, and those first 18 minutes were not reflective of how the half would continue.
As soon as Stark had converted Marc Kampf’s header back across goal the U-19 European champions had a second, with Marc Stendera converting from the penalty spot after Mohammed Khan’s handball.
Impressive footwork from Grischa Promel saw him fire in at the near post to make it three in five minutes, before Stark headed his second.
Mukhtar opened his account in fine style, curling in from the edge of the area, before he doubled his personal tally following a great burst down the left wing by Julian Brandt.
With a half-a-dozen to their name, Frank Wormuth’s side were already guaranteed victory, and as a result were lulled into something of a lackadaisical rhythm. They had quite a rude awakening after the break, however.
With only pride to play for, Fiji returned emboldened and following a tortuous first 45 minutes for the Pacific fans, they were given something to cheer.
A deep cross saw Verevou peel away from his napping marker, with his header back across goal giving him the title of Fiji’s first goal-scorer at a FIFA tournament.
And while the Fijians did all they could to prevent the deficit increasing, with Mukhtar denied his hat-trick thanks to a fine goal-line clearance, substitute Marvin Stefaniak pulled an effort out of the top drawer. After being on for a matter of seconds, he curled a delightful dipping shot over Misiwani Nairube to return some extra shine to the scoreline.
The goals were then rounded off with a second spot-kick, this time handed to Mukhtar so he could finally complete his treble.
Germany will expect a sterner test when they face Uzbekistan, while Fiji will hope to pick up their first FIFA points against Honduras. The Brazil-Nigeria tie saw both sides put defence aside and ploughed everything into an attacking game that produced some stunning goals.
It took just five minutes for Brazil to get on the board with a close-range shot by Gabriel Jesus but it was a short-lived lead.
Nigeria had no trouble getting in behind Brazil’s back four resulting in a sensational strike for Success Isaac who stepped around the keeper and slammed the ball into an open net.
A flurry of shots at both ends of the field resulted in Musa Yahaya putting Nigeria 2-1 up inside 30 minutes.
Judivan equalised just before half-time for Brazil and Boschilia regained the lead on the hour mark with a long-range shot that deflected in off the right-hand post. Judivan bagged his second and wrapped up the game with a tap-in off a goalkeeping error. To complete the first-up matches for the 24 teams, Hungary finished too strong and beat North Korea 5-1 while Honduras held off Uzbekistan 4-3.
The Peninsula/Agencies
