Pre- tournament favourite Germany will  battle it out against  pumped up  Colombia   for a place in the quarterfinal  in the FIFA U-17 World Cup  at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Delhi on Monday.Later  in the  second  pre quarterfinal  to be played at the same pitch ,   group B topper  and favourite  Paraguay  will  face  the USA,. in an all Americas fixture

Colombia who finished second in  group A,  was the first team to arrive in Delhi on 20^th September to acclimatise   themselves  for this mega  event. They  have an advantage of having played two tough matches  at the  same venue  where they will face  the European contender.

The  South Americans   lost to Ghana 0-1 in their opener and then survived a scare before overpowering India 2-1 but then they made amends  as they handed a 3-1 thrashing to the USA in Navi Mumbai to finish with six points ahead of the USA and behind Ghana. All three teams  finished with six points and the goal differences decided their ranking in the pool.

The much talked  Germany  struggled to  beat Costa Rica 2-1  and  suffered a humiliating 0-4 drubbing at the hands of Iran in Goa.. They managed to resurrect their campaign with a  3-1 win over Guinea  in Kochi  to be  second in group C

The knock out round is going to be a different ball game and  the teams  know  that there  is  second chance. to stay put in the competition.   Their  journey  till this stage  of the tournament  looks identical   that  despite  coming  with a  formidable reputation they had to fight out every inch for their survival so far.

Both the teams  having  recorded   two wins, one defeat and scored five times in the first round, clearly shows  how little there is between the sides. Their only other encounter at this level, at the 2007 edition in Korea Republic, was equally tight, ending in a 3-3 draw.  But on Monday  there  will to be a winner, and a loser  will head for home.

Colombia  seems to be heavy dependent  on their promising  star Juan Penaloza, who  so far has played very crucial role in  his  side’s progress with both goals in their victory over India, as well as a crucial goal and assist in their must-win showdown with USA.

The  youngster  realizes that team has  huge expectations from him .  He  is candid enough to admit that  the  main inspiration to keep working hard is his deceased brother, to whom he dedicates every goal he scores.  
  Colombia coach Orlando  Restrepo  who  before the start of the league had declared the USA as the strongest in the pool , looked confident after his team’s overwhelming  win  over them .

“We have to play our own game, We should not waste chances as we did it here last week against Ghana and India” he said.

Of the four sides set to play on Monday, Germany had the most shots in the group phase with 61, 21 of which were on target, 25 off target and 15 blocked. With no margin for error in the knockout phase, Die Mannschaft will be hoping to make every opportunity count from here on in.

Jann- Fiete Arp  is the player Germany seems to be depending upon.The in form captain  was instrumental in his team’s  win over Guinea  that helped  them  to make it to the pre-quarterfinals .

Arp, earmarked as the future of German national team after his seven goals, including two hat-tricks in the European U-17 Championships.

He along with   Dennis  Jastrzembski  and Nicolas Kuhn, form a  dangerous trio  as they  interchange positions and drop deep when needed.

The defeat  against Iran still rankles  “Sometimes there are days when nothing goes the way you plan it. So this time we need to do  few things differently. We  will have to  play with  a better mindset,”

Arp, who made his debut for Hamburg’s senior side in a derby against Werder Bremen a few weeks ago and thus became the first Bundesliga player to be born in the millennium, opined “Now we are going into the playoffs, it doesn’t matter who we face. It’s the playoffs, so we are taking it match by match,”

Paraguay  and  USA made it to the knock rounds in a contrasting style. Both were among the first teams to secure Round of 16 berths after winning their opening two games.

Their fortunes then took different turn  as   Paraguay    made  it three wins from three, while the Stars and Stripes lost to  Colombia and  slipped to third place in group A

Paraguay boast a formidable strike force, who along with Iran, finished the group phase with 10 goals (3.33 per game).

Giovanni Bogado, Fernando Cardozo and  Antonio Galeano are the players to be watched .They are responsible for Paraguay’s smooth journey to knock out round.

Americans started promisingly outclassing  India 3—0  and then piped  fiery Ghana 1-0  before they met their match in Colombia.

However  American coach  John  Hackworth put behind the debacle against Colombia  saying  his boys  will put up better show  when it matters most  “This team is capable of producing a strong performance and bouncing back. The players are in good shape and ready, but we need to be at our best on the pitch.”