Germany have won the FIFA Confederations Cup for the first time after a 1-0 victory over Chile at the Saint Petersburg Stadium.
A crowd of 57,268 watched the South American champions waste chance after glorious chance, leaving Joachim Low’s young side as champions by virtue of Lars Stindl’s 20th-minute strike.
Chile utterly dominated the early exchanges, and could have been several goals ahead but for some wayward finishing, fine goalkeeping and last-ditch defending. But Germany are masters at punishing teams for such wastefulness and took the lead completely against the run of play after 20 minutes.
The goal was the stuff of nightmares for Marcelo Diaz, who found himself pick-pocketed by the alert and unselfish Timo Werner and could only watch as the striker drew Claudio Bravo from his goal and teed up Stindl for the simplest of tap-ins.
Germany’s youthful side seemed to relax thereafter but found themselves under siege again in the second half, with substitute Angelo Sagal missing the best of the opportunities Chile created.
FIFA.com team reporter analysis
“Chile had complete control of the game before the defensive mistake that led to Germany’s goal. From that moment, La Roja *tried everything to even the score, even if this meant taking more risks than usual. But nothing came off. Pizzi ended up playing with three forwards, two attacking midfielders and his two full-backs as wingers, and his side still couldn’t find a way to goal.”
Diego Zandrino, Chile team reporter*
“There is no doubt that many things did not quite work out today as Die Mannschaft might have envisioned before the game. With Chile creating several big chances, they were fortunate not to concede. However, in this final they once more proved very clinical in front of goal, a quality that might have been expected from their more experienced opponents.”*
Steffen Potter, Germany team reporter*
Budweiser Man of the Match *Outstanding in the semi-final win over Mexico, *Marc-Andre ter Stegen *excelled once again with a display of sharp reflexes and secure handling. Germany have found a worthy rival to Manuel Neuer. The stat *24 years and four months is the average age of this Germany squad, making them the youngest champions in the history of the Confederations Cup. Not one of their players at Russia 2017 was over the age of 30.
Follow *
*FCC on Twitter | FCC on FB | FCC on IG
