Confederations Cup 2017 Semi-Final: Germany Show Their Class To Reach Final
Highlights:
- Germany defeated Mexico 4-1
- Germany and Chile will play in the final
- Portugal take on Mexico for third place
Germany deservedly booked their place in the final of the Confederations Cup after they defeated Mexico 4-1 in Sochi. Leon Goretzka scored twice in the opening eight minutes to put the game to bed. With this, Germany who have made eight World Cup finals and six European Championship finals reached their first Confederations Cup final where they will be favorites against South American champions Chile on Sunday.
Germany started the match with intent and it took them only six minutes to get on the score sheet as Leon Goretzka opened the scoring of them. Goretzka needed only another two minutes to get on the score sheet again, as he doubled the Germans lead. Racing to a 2-0 lead within eight minutes, you never really got the feeling that the outcome of this game was in doubt.
Sitting on a comfortable lead gave Germany the opportunity to control the game as they sat back and waited for Mexico and then bounced back with incisive counters. Despite Mexico having 60 percent of the possession and twice as many shots as their opponents, the Germans controlled the game and looked far more threatening in attack. Mexico started the second half well and looked to pull one back before Julian Draxler opened the Mexican defense to set up the third goal for the Germans scored by Werner. Marco Fabian scored a stunner to get one for Mexico but it was only a matter of time before Amin Younes restored Germany’s three-goal lead, forging the comfortable 4-1 final score.
The result bodes well for German football, with a young and inexperienced German team showing that they are capable of taking the mantle from the senior players. Germany boss Joachim Low left most of his regular star players at home, and the fact their weakened squad includes first-team players from Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Paris St-Germain, Arsenal and Liverpool speaks a lot about the strength in depth of German football. It is a frightening prospect for other nations to think that this German national team won’t be the one we see at Russia 2018 — that there is a better, more experienced version out there resting up for the World Cup.
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