Australia will not come into their Confed Cup opener with a ton of confidence after they were thrashed 4-0 by Brazil in a recent friendly. They also lost a friendly last year to England, so their recent track record against the big-name nations isn’t particularly great.
However, they did pick up a very important 3-2 win over Saudi Arabia earlier in the month to boost their World Cup qualification chances. Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic scored the crucial winner, while Tomislav Juric netted a brace.
The Socceroos don’t possess too much quality on their squad, though, and 37-year-old Tim Cahill’s continued inclusion is a sobering reminder of that lack of depth. It’ll take a massive effort from the Aussies to avoid getting embarrassed in what will likely be their toughest test of the tournament.
Reigning world champions Germany didn’t bring their strongest side for their Confederations Cup campaign. Instead, manager Joachim Loew brought a younger, more experimental squad to Russia with the likely goal of expanding his pool of options for next year’s World Cup.
However, it speaks to the Germans’ strength in depth that their second-string squad is still priced as the co-favorite with Portugal to win the tournament.
The Germans tuned up for the Confed Cup with an impressive 7-0 demolition of San Marino in a World Cup qualifier. Hoffenheim striker Sandro Wagner starred with a hat-trick in just his second career cap, and could be in line to start in their opener against Australia.
Wagner will likely be joined in attack by Julian Draxler, the most experienced and most talented of Germany’s forwards. Timo Werner and Lars Stindl, who had very good seasons for their respective clubs, could also feature in some capacity for the Germans.
Germany have gone undefeated in their last 10 matches (eight wins, two draws) with 31 goals scored. And even with a weakened squad, they should have enough firepower to start their Confederations Cup campaign with a win.
Writer’s Prediction
Germany (-295) kick off their Confederations Cup campaign with a 3-1 win.
