German team arrives, hits Goa’s beach to test waters

The U-17 World Cup team of Germany arrived here on Sunday without star player and skipper Jann-Fiete Arp, who will join the side in a few days. A 20-member team landed at the airport here at around 5am on a Qatar Airlines flight via Doha, where there was a stopover of a few hours.

The team got down to business in the afternoon as the players had a training session at the beach. The players had workouts at the beach under the watchful eyes of head coach Christian Wuck.

“First training in # India at very high humidity. The tired legs are relaxed on the beach,” the team’s official Twitter handle said.

The tweet was accompanied with pictures of players showing off their skills with the ball on the sand.

“On board (the flight) are 17 of the 18 players and three goalkeepers nominated for the tournament.

“Jann-Fiete Arp ...is still at the weekend in the professional team of Hamburger SV for the Bundesliga match against Werder Bremen,” the German Football Federation said on its website.

Arp did not accompany the team as he created history by making his Bundesliga debut for Hamburg against Werder Bremen on Sunday. He became the first Bundesliga player to be born after 2000. The match ended goalless.

Seventeen-year-old Arp is one the most talked about young talents in Germany and he scored two hat-tricks in UEFA European Under-17 Championship in May.

Germany lost to Spain in the semi-finals but still qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India as four teams make the cut.

Germany are placed in Group C along with Costa Rica, Iran and Guinea. They begin their campaign against Costa Rica on October 7. Germany have appeared in the FIFA U-17 World Cup nine times so far. They were the runners-up in the inaugural tournament in 1985 and finished third in 2007 and 2011, and fourth in 1997.

They were knocked out by Croatia in the round of 16 in Chile two years ago.

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