Not many people were expecting the reigning world champions to reach the finals of this year’s Confederations Cup. Manager Joachim Low elected to send a young side to Russia, opting to rest superstars Manuel Neuer, Mesut Ozil, Mats Hummels and Thomas Muller for this quadrennial sporting event. Germany, with an average of 24 years and four months, had a perfect response to their critics, however. They breezed through the group stage before dismantling Mexico, 4-1, in the semifinals.
That resounding victory helped set up a rematch with Chile in the Confederations Cup final. The Copa America holders have been the only team in this competition to trouble Die Mannschaft, holding Germany to a 1-1 group stage draw earlier this month. This young German squad, though, seems to be growing in confidence with every game. That was pretty much evident in their semis win against highly-fancied Mexico. The Germans came out of the gate swinging in that encounter with Bayern Munich target Leon Goretzka netting an early two-minute brace.
If they can produce that same high-tempo start against Chile, it would be lights out for the South Americans. Expected to lead the German attack in the final are Goretzka and Timo Werner. They are tied for the lead in the golden boot race with Goreztka and Werner scoring three goals apiece in this tournament. Following closely behind is teammate Lars Stindl who has netted twice.
Germany may be the favorites but we can never discount Chile from grabbing the victory today. The South Americans have championship pedigree with Chile on the lookout for their third international trophy in three years. They won both the 2015 and 2016 Copa America titles – beating Argentina in the final on penalties on both occasions.
Claudio Bravo was instrumental in both of those title runs and he will once again play an integral role for Chile in the finale against Germany. The much-maligned Man City keeper definitely showed his worth in the semis win against Portugal. Not only did Bravo keep a clean sheet in normal time, but for the next 30 minutes and in the penalty shoot-out. He saved all three of Portugal’s spot-kicks.
Chile controlled just 46 percent of the possession against Germany in their group encounter and we expect more of the same in the final. The South Americans showed in that contest, however, that they can hit Germany on the counterattack. Alexis Sanchez’s speed regularly troubled the world champs, even scoring the opener in that contest. Even with the limited possession, Chile managed to have more shot attempts (11-10) and shots on target (4-3) against Germany.
