So near, and yet so far. VfL Wolfsburg’s U17s gave it all they had on Sunday in a high-quality Under-17 Bundesliga final, but it was DSC Arminia Bielefeld who ran out 2-1 (0-0) winners. In front of a crowd of 8,384 at the SchücoArena in Bielefeld, Nick Cherny (74th minute) and Henrik Koch (79’) gave the home side a two-goal lead, but the Wolves refused to give up hope and managed to halve the deficit through Louis Grobauer (88’).
Both teams contributed to what was a wonderful advertisement for youth football and the Wolves can be very proud of their performances throughout the season and in particular in the final, although that will be of little consolation to them at the moment.
Goals
1-0 Cherny (74’): A corner from the right for Bielefeld is cleared only as far as the edge of the Wolfsburg area, and Cherny finds the back of the net with a volley that takes a deflection from one of the Green-and-Whites before looping home.
2-0 Koch (79’): A short corner routine sees Cherny send a cross into the box, where Koch fends off substitute Eryk Grzywacz and heads home from five metres out.
2-1 Grobauer (88’): Odogu feeds Grobauer, who halves the deficit with an incredible strike into the corner of the net from the edge of the area.
