JOIN US A late goal by substitute Noah Awuku lifted Germany to a 2-1 win over Costa Rica in their opening match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup here on Saturday.
Germany were more organised in attack and dominated play in halves, creating quite a few scoring opportunities. The European heavyweights scored through Jan-Fiete Arp (21st minute) and Awuku (89th).
They could have won by a bigger margin had it not been for some erratic shots in front of the goal.
Costa Rica, who defended for the major part of the game, pulled one back in the 64th minute through Andres Gomez.
Costa Rica showed promise in The Germans took time to settle down but once they did, there was no looking back, as they came up with swift counter moves from the flanks and took the lead in the 21st minute after missing a couple of chances.
In the second half, a swift move from the left saw Josue Abarca send a low cross into the box for Andres Gomez, who, from the centre of the box, beat German goalkeeper Luca Plogmann with a stiff grounder.
Germany scored the winner just before the final whistle when Awuku found the net after a defender failed to receive a cross from the right.