Opinion: Germany prove their mettle in the Confed Cup

Germany became the first European nation since France to lift the Confederations Cup after the beat Chile by a 1-0 scoreline last night. Much was said about the inexperience of the German squad, but Joachim Loew managed to bring a crop of players, who excelled with their individual abilities.

Looking into the paper, Chile looked far a dominant side that the Germans and this was evident from the opening whistle with the likes of Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez thrusting towards their opponents. However, they aggressiveness saw them mess up at the back as a defensive error from Marcelo Diaz handed Lars Stindl a tap-in from Timo Werner.

Loew would have been termed irresponsible, had the Germans lost out in the group stages, but the so-called second-string squad managed to form a cohesion which was evident with their flurry of goals against Mexico. Carrying the German ‘B’ tag did not fuss the World Cup champions on the night as their team on Sunday had racked 2000 first-team games between them across all competitions.

It could be noted that both Lars Stindl and Leon Goretzka stood out with their performances for Borussia Monchengladbach and Schalke last season while the likes of Shkodran Mustafi and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen have emerged as regulars with Arsenal and Barcelona respectively.

Vidal was quite keen to prove that Chile could beat the World Cup champions for the first time in 49 years, but unfortunately, no one could predict the steely resolve of the German backline which involved a standout performer in Roma’s Antonio Rudiger.

The 24-year-old is already a target for the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, and his impact was fairly visible over the weekend as he fended off the Chilean attack, which managed 21 shots on the night. All in all, the future looks bright for Germany, who are likely to field some of their young stars when the World Cup kick starts in a year’s time in Russia.

Image – Getty