Star-striker Jann-Fiete Arp's individual brilliance helped Germany register a comfortable 4-0 victory against an out-of-sort Colombian side to enter the quarterfinals of the under-17 World Cup here on Monday.
After an indifferent group stage performance, which saw Christian Wueck's boys edge Costa Rica in the opener, before getting blanked 0-4 by Iran and finally ending the group with a 3-1 victory over Guinea, the European powerhouse were back at their best again in the round-of-16 clash to send a warning to the rest of the teams in the tournament.
Skipper Arp netted the opener and the final goal in the 7th minute and 65th minute, in between setting John Yeboah up for the third in the 49th minute. Six minutes before half-time, Yann Bisseck headed home the second for Germany to complete the rout against the South American side.
Wueck's boys had nine shots against Colombia's two shots on target on Monday here at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Even though Orlando Restrepo's side had 62 percent possession, they couldn't make the most of it.
Restrepo said his players started the match a bit nervously, thereby giving the initiative to their opponents. "Germany were more productive with their chances and we also made silly mistakes in defence," explained the disappointed coach.
Germany, on the other hand, were more efficient with their use of the ball. They were more direct in their approach and broke away quickly in counter-attacks to regularly create havoc in the Colombian defence. But Wueck felt his boys could have been more productive in front of the goal.
"We did well defensively but we could have scored six or seven goals tonight," the German coach said. "We had many chances but we didn't take them. At this level you can't do that. We need to show more quality inside the box."
Earlier, Colombia had a golden chance in the opening couple of minutes, Deiber Caicedo was through on goal, but was not able to control the long ball properly and made a meal of it.
Immediately after, Arp was racing towards goal, but Colombian keeper Kevin Mier intercepted it but could not keep hold of the ball as the striker turned around and hit a lobbying shot over the keeper's reach from a tight angle to score the opener.
The response from Orlando Restrepo's side was quite good. From close range an under-pressure Robert Mejia hit his shot wide.
After that Germany had several chances from counter-attacks. Around the half-hour mark, from Arp's attempted long pass, goalkeeper Mier came deep outside of his penalty box to intercept the ball, but was caught out of position. The defender hit the ball at the keeper, but Mier somehow blocked it with his body, however the rebound fell to Yeboah. With a defender marking him tightly, he could not direct the ball properly into an unguarded net, as the keeper raced back to collect it.
Then, Yeboah again cut inside and hit the shot from the right-flank, but fingertips of the keeper were enough to divert the ball onto the crossbar.
Finally in the 39th minute, from a Sahverdi Cetin corner, Yann Bisseck headed home the second goal.
In injury time, they could have increased the advantage. Yeboah laid the ball to Arp, but the keeper intercepted it and from the rebound, John's shot was blocked on the line by Thomas Gutierrez.
Colombia did not even have a single shot on target compared to Germany's three in the opening half.
Christian Wueck' side started the second half the way they ended the first. Within four minutes after the restart, they got their third goal.
Their skipper Arp was left unmarked again and he found himself free with the keeper, but instead of taking the shot, he unselfishly laid it on to the side for Yeboah to roll the ball into an empty net.
John, who tormented the Colombian defence throughout the match playing on the right flank, got a well-deserved goal.
That goal more or less sealed Colombia's fate and it was only to get worse for Restrepo's side.
In the 65th minute, Arp won the ball from Clombian defender Guillermo Tegue and raced into the penalty box and lofted the ball beautifully over the keeper for his second of the night and Germany's fourth.
As a result of the goal, any hope of Colombian comeback was put to bed. Even star winger leandro Campaz's introduction in the second half didn't make much difference.
Camapz was direct and tested Germany's defence regularly on the left-flank by cutting inside or going outside. However, he was not able to do much to help Colombia end the tournament with a goal.
With seven minutes remaining, Juan Penaloza's right-footed shot was too hot to handle for keeper luca Plogmann as he diverted it over the goal for a corner. With that the South American side's final chance of ending the tournament with a goal came to a sad end.
As the final whistle was blown by the referee, Germany announced their arrival on the major stage and reminded everyone about their prowess, which helped them dominate the world football for so long at the senior level.
As for Colombia, it has been a disappointing end to a campaign, which promised lot more for the South American nation, especially after their stunning 3-1 victory against a dominant USA side in the final group match. But, they were unable to match a superior German side on the night.