Sochi: Manager Joachim Loew hailed Germany’s ‘brilliant’ 4-1 win over Mexico in the Confederations Cup semifinal Thursday and said his youthful squad are ambitious enough to beat Chile in the final.
Loew opted not to bring his World Cup winning stars to the Confederatio Cup, but Germany’s young guns booked their place in Sunday’s final in St Petersburg after a devastating opening spell in Sochi.
Attacking midfielder Leon Goretzka, 22, hit two goals in the first eight minutes to stun Mexico. Timo Werner, 21, made it 3-0 midway through the second half, then Marco Fabian scored Mexico’s late stunning consolation with a thunderbolt free-kick before Germany’s substitute Amin Younes, 23, netted the fourth for his side.
“From the beginning, we did exactly what we set out to do – we were very dominant and brilliant in the opening stages,” said Loew.
“They pushed us back a bit in the second phase of the first half, which was to be expected, and we gave up a lot of ball. All in all, 4-1 is a great result. We wanted to go far, but this is nothing that we could have expected at the start of the tournament,” he added.
After Germany drew 1-1 with Chile in the group stages last Thursday, Loew had said his team are hungry enough to beat the Copa America champions if they meet in the final.
“Chile are the most powerful opponent in this tournament, we know them pretty well and we expect them to go for it in the final,” said Loew. “They will go flat out for victory, we know,” pointed out Loew.
Loew also stated that he did not expect the side to make it to the final. “A lot of work has gone into our wins. We couldn’t pre-empt this (reaching the final) as some players had little experience. But we’ve become a team over the last few weeks. There’s fun in the dressing room, but they aren’t over the top,” stated Loew. “They (the boys) know there is work ahead and they are ambitious enough to beat Chile,” he added.
Goretzka and Werner are now the tournament’s joint top-scorers with three goals each. Goretzka said, the Germans have a score to settle against Chile. “We’re looking forward to playing Chile again, because in the second half (of the group stage match) we had the feeling the draw was not enough,” said Goretzka.
