Christian Wück has been looking after various DFB junior national teams for more than ten years. Now he led the U17s to the final of the World Cup in Indonesia on Saturday (December 2nd, 2023, 1 p.m.) and is on the verge of his greatest career success.
When Christian Wück is asked about the secret of his young team’s success, he immediately goes into raptures. “The foundation stone,” says the U17 national coach, “It’s the mentality that German teams had in the 80s and 90s, who never wanted to lose, who gave everything to win and were always proud to play for Germany.”
Characters that can decide games
Even his current U17 team, which eliminated Argentina in a dramatic World Cup semi-final, would always leave their hearts on the pitch, says the 50-year-old, who proved himself as a nimble offensive player in the Bundesliga in the 1990s (including for VfL Wolfsburg, 1. FC Nürnberg and Arminia Bielefeld) made a name for themselves. This mentality paired with individual quality and different characters that can decide games are the young team’s great strengths.
Mentality, passion, refreshing demeanor – these qualities should now lead the shooting stars to the World Cup title, which the whole of football Germany is longing for in these times. Wück, who coaches the team with former Leverkusen international Jens Nowotny, does not see a youth problem in Germany. However, the talents lacked playing time in the transition area, Wück said on ZDF: “We have to learn to give German talents more trust again.”
For more than ten years Junior area employed
The former professional knows the U15 to U17 years like no other. The native of Lower Franconia, who lives with his family in Bielefeld, has been looking after various junior national teams since 2012.
He celebrated a great triumph with the U17s back in June. At the European Championships in Hungary, the German youngsters beat the team they will now face again in the final: the French. “It will be tight again, your form on the day will definitely play a role”, believes the coach, but sees his team in a better starting position. “We showed great mentality and will to win. From a psychological perspective, the momentum could be with us”said Wück.
He doesn’t want to train that much before the important duel. Regeneration is the priority, says the trainer. In one or two tactical units he wants to get his team to take on the opponent that he knows so well from the recent past.
Goalkeeper decision open until the last day
But there is an important personnel decision that needs to be made just before the showdown: Who will be in the German goal? As is well known, in the semi-final against Argentina, Unterhaching’s Konstantin Heide represented the sick regular keeper Max Schmitt excellently and, among other things, saved two penalties.
“We’ll keep the decision in the coaching team open until the last day and see how things look with Max. He’s not 100 percent fit yet.”, explained Wück. Heide would definitely be ready, but would also cheer on his team from the bench – “with everything I have.”