The Germany U17 national team have qualified for the final of the World Cup in Indonesia for the first time in 38 years. DFB coach Christian Wück's charges won a thrilling semi-final against Argentina 4-2 on penalties after a 3-3 draw in normal time.

Their final opponents in Surakarta on Saturday (13:00 CET) will be France, who came back from 1-0 down to beat surprise package Mali by a 2-1 scoreline.

In addition to Unterhaching substitute goalkeeper Konstantin Heide, who thwarted several Argentinean chances and saved two penalty kicks in the shoot-out, Borussia's young talent Paris Brunner also performed outstandingly. The attacker first opened the scoring at 1-0 and then levelled the scores at 2-2 in the second period. He then held his nerve as the taker of Germany's final penalty kick and converted in ice-cold fashion. His club team-mates Almugera Kabar and Charles Herrmann missed the semi-final on account of injury. Hoffenheim player Max Moerstedt was the scorer of the goal for 3-2. Argentina then scored a goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time through Ruberto to take the game to penalties.

"I'm very proud of my team. We now want to win the title and finish the journey together. We were good today, but I know we can do even better," said a smiling Paris Brunner following the final whistle. Coach Christian Wück added: "We're very proud and happy to have made it to the final. Now we want to win the gold medal." (wiwi)