Young Germany defeats spirited Chile, win Confederations Cup

A young Germany side that had rested the experience of Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, midfielders Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil and forward Thomas Muller, secured a 1-0 win over Chile in the Confederations Cup final.

In the absence of the big names, the new generation of budding footballers won Germany its first ever Confederations Cup. Capturing the opportunity with both hands, 21-year-old forward Timo Werner performed throughout the tournament. In the final too, it was Werner who created the goal capitalising on a moment of madness by Chili’s Marcelo Díaz. Díaz horrendously gave away the possession on the edge of his own team’s penalty area, Werner found Lars Stindl to perfection and Stindl scored the only goal of the match to ensure a German victory.

Going into the finale, it was considered to be a showdown between Germany’s experience — of playing in the big finals — and Chile’s exuberance but the Chile team has more to blame their own poor show for the loss, than Germany’s superior performance.

While Díaz made a mess near Chile’s penalty area, Chile had 22 shots and yet couldn’t find the back of the net even once. Although Chile Captain, and Goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo Conceded that they “lost against a world-class team”, he added that his team “must learn from mistakes” and that “there was not much difference between two sides”.

Interestingly, the German side that represented them in the Confederations Cup hadn’t played together before the tournament. “We hadn’t played together before the tournament, which makes it (the win) even more special,” said German Captain Julian Draxler.

Recently, Germany won the European Under-21 Championship and a win in the Confederations Cup with another young-team speaks volume about there preparations for the title defence of the FIFA World Cup which is merely 12-months away.

Chile’s road to the world cup, on the other hand, is tough as the consecutive Copa America Champions (2015 and 2016) stand on the fourth position in their qualifying group with four matches to go. Chile will have to work on their poor finishing and careless defense to make it to the World Cup.