FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 / Germany

FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 : Germany
Trainer	Joachim Löw
captain	Julian Draxler
Qualified as	World Champion
World rankings before the tournament	3
Tournament result	winner
Games won	4th
Games tie	1
Games lost	0
Gates	12: 5

This article covers the German national soccer team at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 . Germany took part in the Confederations Cup for the third time after 1999 and 2005 , qualified as the second team to host Russia by winning the 2014 World Cup and won the title for the first time. In 1999, Germany qualified as European champions from 1996 and 2005 as the host or host of the 2006 World Cup.

Squad

On May 17th, national coach Joachim Löw nominated 23 players. A role was played by the fact that shortly before the tournament the U-20 World Championship and almost simultaneously the U-21 European Championship took place, for which DFB teams that reached the second round or won the title were also qualified. In addition, it would be the third summer tournament in three years for some national players. Therefore, Löw nominated only three players from the squad for the 2014 World Cup (Julian Draxler, Matthias Ginter and Shkodran Mustafi). Seven players (Emre Can, Draxler, Jonas Hector, Joshua Kimmich, Bernd Leno, Mustafi and Marc-André ter Stegen) were also in the squad for the 2016 European Championship. With Kerem Demirbay, Diego Demme, Marvin Plattenhardt, Lars Stindl, Sandro Wagner and Amin Younes six players were nominated for the first time for the senior national team and used for the first time in the two games before the tournament. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim provided most of the players with four players. Seven players were under contract with foreign clubs: two in England, two in France and one each in Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. At the last European Championship there were nine (record), at the World Cup also seven players. Of the players who have already played for the senior national team, Maximilian Arnold , Yannick Gerhardt , Serge Gnabry , Max Meyer and Jonathan Tah were part of the squad for the U-21 European Championship. On May 23, the initially nominated Leroy Sané had to be removed from the squad because he was supposed to undergo an operation on his nose. On June 7th, Löw committed himself to Draxler as captain and waived subsequent nominations for the failed Sané and Diego Demme , who had dropped out on June 13th due to back problems , so that Germany was the only team to arrive with only 21 players. With an average age of 24 years and four months, Germany provided the youngest squad in the tournament.

position	No.	Surname	society	birth date	input rates	Gates	debut	Last use	Games	Gates
goal	12	Bernd Leno	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	04th Mar 1992	04th	00	May 29, 2016	26th Mar 2017	1
	22nd	Marc-André ter Stegen	FC Barcelona	Apr 30, 1992	010	00	May 26, 2012	June 10, 2017	4th
	01	Kevin Trapp	Paris Saint-Germain	0July 8, 1990	01	00	0June 6, 2017	0June 6, 2017
Defense	04th	Matthias Ginter	Borussia Dortmund	Jan. 19, 1994	10	00	05th Mar 2014	0June 6, 2017	4th
	03	Jonas Hector	1. FC Cologne	May 27, 1990	29	03	Nov 14, 2014	June 10, 2017	4th
	06th	Benjamin Henrichs	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	Feb 23, 1997	01	00	Nov 11, 2016	Nov 11, 2016	2
	18th	Joshua Kimmich	FC Bayern Munich	0Feb 8, 1995	15th	02	May 29, 2016	June 10, 2017	5		1
	02	Shkodran Mustafi	Arsenal FC	Apr 17, 1992	16	02	May 13, 2014	June 10, 2017	3
	05	Marvin Plattenhardt	Hertha BSC	Jan. 26, 1992	02	00	0June 6, 2017	June 10, 2017	1		1
	16	Antonio Rudiger	AS Roma	03rd Mar 1993	13	00	May 13, 2014	0June 6, 2017	4th		1
	17th	Niklas Süle	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	03rd Sep 1995	02	00	31 Aug 2016	0June 6, 2017	4th
Midfield / storm	20th	Julian Brandt	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	0May 2, 1996	07th	01	May 29, 2016	June 10, 2017	3
	14th	Emre Can	Liverpool FC	Jan. 12, 1994	010	00	04th Sep 2015	June 10, 2017	5		2
	10	Kerem Demirbay	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	03rd July 1993	01	00	0June 6, 2017	0June 6, 2017	1	1
	07th	Julian Draxler	Paris Saint-Germain	Sep 20 1993	30th	04th	May 26, 2012	June 10, 2017	5	1
	08th	Leon Goretzka	FC Schalke 04	0Feb 6, 1995	05	00	May 13, 2014	June 10, 2017	4th	3	1
	21st	Sebastian Rudy	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	Feb 28, 1990	15th	00	May 13, 2014	0June 6, 2017	5		1
	13	Lars Stindl	Borussia Monchengladbach	Aug 26, 1988	02	00	0June 6, 2017	June 10, 2017	4th	3	1
	09	Sandro Wagner	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	Nov 29, 1987	02	03	0June 6, 2017	June 10, 2017	1
	11	Timo Werner	RB Leipzig	06th Mar 1996	02	00	22 Mar 2017	June 10, 2017	4th	3
	15th	Amin Younes	Ajax Amsterdam	0Aug 6, 1993	02	01	0June 6, 2017	June 10, 2017	2	1
Status of appearances and goals: June 10, 2017, last game before the tournament

preparation

In preparation for the tournament, there was no training camp, but the German team met on June 6 in Brøndby in Denmark , reaching six debutants against being encountered with their best Danish team a 1: 1. In addition, she played on June 10 in Nuremberg as part of the qualification for the 2018 World Cup against San Marino and won 7-0. On June 15, the team traveled to Sochi .

Group stage

St. Petersburg Kazan Sochi

Venues

In Group B, Germany met South American champions Chile, Asian champions Australia and Africa champions Cameroon, who were the last to qualify for the tournament after the group draw. There were previously five games against Australia, of which three competitive games were won. One friendly game each ended in a draw and was lost. Against Chile there were three competitive wins and two wins and two defeats in friendlies, the latter in 1961 and 1968 in Chile. There was only one competitive game against Cameroon, which was won in the 2002 World Cup preliminary round, with the Cameroonians being trained by the German Winfried Schäfer . There was also one win and one draw in friendly games.

At the start of the Confederations Cup 2017, the DFB-Elf managed a 3-2 victory against the Asian champions Australia in Sochi . Lars Stindl took the lead with his first international goal after just 5 minutes after a presentation by Julian Brandt . Further chances were missed. Tom Rogić equalized for Australia in the 41st minute . Shortly before half-time, captain Julian Draxler took the lead again with a penalty. Just three minutes after the break, Leon Goretzka increased to 3-1 with his first goal for the senior team. Tomi Juric was able to reduce the score to 2: 3 after a mistake by Bernd Leno , which also meant the final score.

On the second day of the match, the match against the supposedly strongest team in the group, the winner of the Copa América 2015 Chile , was on. In Kazan , the South Americans took the lead after just six minutes thanks to Alexis Sánchez . Chile were superior in the early stages and had chances to increase to 2-0. Over time, the DFB-Elf found their way into the game better and better and scored the equalizer in the 41st minute of the game, Lars Stindl met Jonas Hector . In the second half, both teams could hardly develop a goal danger, so it remained at 1: 1.

The German team before the third group game against Cameroon

The starting position before the last group game in Sochi against the African champions Cameroon was comfortable. Since there was no winner in the game between this one and Australia, Germany would even have been enough to reach the semi-finals with a narrow defeat. National coach Joachim Löw changed the team line-up again. In the first half Germany hardly had any chances to score, but right at the beginning of the second half Kerem Demirbay scored 1-0 with his first international goal (48th minute). Referee Wilmar Roldán created a curious scene when he accidentally showed the wrong player the red card after being kicked by a Cameroonian. After a tip from the video assistant, he took it back and sent the correct player off the field. Almost immediately afterwards Timo Werner scored the 2-0 with a header after a cross from Kimmich , and it was also the first international goal for him (67th minute). Vincent Aboubakar reduced the game to 1: 2 in the 78th minute, but Werner again made the decision 3: 1. This last group game was the 150th international match and at the same time the 100th victory under Joachim Löw as national coach.

After three games in seven days, Germany was the winners of Group B with seven points and 7-4 goals , as Chile did not get beyond a 1-1 draw against Australia on the last matchday.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	3	2	1	0	007: 400	+3	07th
2.	Chile	3	1	2	0	004: 200	+2	05
3.	Australia	3	0	2	1	004: 500	−1	02
4th	Cameroon	3	0	1	2	002: 600	−4	01

Mon, June 19, 2017, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Sochi
Australia	-	Germany	2: 3 (1: 2)
Thursday, June 22, 2017, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Kazan
Germany	-	Chile	1: 1 (1: 1)
Sun., June 25, 2017, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Sochi
Germany	-	Cameroon	3: 1 (0: 0)

Final round

Semifinals

Thursday, June 29, 2017, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Sochi
Germany	-	Mexico	4: 1 (2: 0)

Opponents in the semi-finals were Mexico , against which there had previously been ten games, four of which were won, five ended in a draw - one of which was won on penalties - and one was lost. The last time they met in the game for third place in the 2005 Confederation Cup, which Germany won 4-3 after extra time.

Germany started furiously in the semi-finals. Leon Goretzka gave Germany a 2-0 lead early with a double. In the 6th minute he took the lead on presentation of the young full-back Benjamin Henrichs . Just 109 seconds later, after preparation by Timo Werner , he increased to 2-0 (8th minute). This hit also marked the earliest 2-0 lead by a German team ever in a tournament (European Championship, World Cup, Confederation Cup). However, the team could not maintain this good performance. Mexico became the game-determining team and came up with numerous chances, all of which were either missed or parried by Ter Stegen . After the break, the DFB-Elf improved again and Timo Werner scored the 3-0 in the 59th minute, with Germany reaching a total goal difference of +1000 for the first time in its international history. Thereafter, the result was largely managed. In the closing stages, Marco Fabián scored a goal from long range after a quick free kick (89th minute), which was then chosen as the goal of the tournament. This 3: 1 was not the final score, however, as the substitute Amin Younes increased to 4: 1 with his first goal in the first minute of stoppage time. With their goals Werner and Goretzka took the lead in the scorers list with a total of three goals each .

final

Starting grid in the final

Sun., July 2, 2017 at 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Saint Petersburg
Chile	-	Germany	0: 1 (0: 1)

The German team before the final

In the final, the opponent was called Chile again , as the South Americans won their semi-final against Portugal on penalties. National coach Löw only changed his team in one position compared to the semi-finals, Shkodran Mustafi moved into the starting line-up for Henrichs . Chile chose the same line-up as in the first encounter in the group stage. Only goalkeeper Claudio Bravo moved into the team in the meantime. The course of the game was also reminiscent of the game ten days earlier. Chile were the dominant team and came up with several good opportunities. The German team did not find their way into the encounter and only concentrated on preventing a goal. In the 20th minute, however, it was surprisingly 1-0 for Germany. In the first offensive action by the Germans, Timo Werner captured the ball after a mistake by Marcelo Díaz and placed it on Lars Stindl , who only had to shoot the ball into the empty goal. Even after the goal, the Chileans continued to determine the game, although the German team had increasingly adapted to their opponents. The DFB team also became more courageous on the offensive and worked out more goal opportunities, which, however, were awarded by Draxler and Goretzka . In the second half, both teams met at eye level. The encounter was increasingly determined by tough duels and degenerate discussions. The main controversial issue was an elbow strike by Gonzalo Jara against Werner, which the referee punished with yellow instead of red after using the video evidence. There was no real goal danger on either side in the second half. Only in the final minutes Chile came dangerously in front of the German goal. Goalkeeper Ter Stegen misjudged a cross from Sánchez , which enabled Edson Puch to spit the ball in front of his hands and drop it on Ángelo Sagal , who shot over the empty goal from a few meters. In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Ter Stegen parried a dangerous free kick from Sánchez. This was the last action in the game.

With this 1-0, Germany won the FIFA Confederations Cup for the first time. After the game, Timo Werner was awarded the Golden Ball as top scorer. He got three hits and two assists. His teammates Lars Stindl and Leon Goretzka also scored three goals, but they could not have any assists. Captain Julian Draxler was honored as the best player of the tournament . The team also received the Fair Play Award.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ dfb.de: "Löw: 'The 2018 World Cup is above everything'"
2. ↑ dfb.de: "Leroy Sané is out of the Confederations Cup"
3. ↑ dfb.de: "Draxler also at Confed Cup captain"
4. ↑ dfb.de: "Unchanged squad for Confed Cup"
5. ↑ dfb.de: "Demme cancels for Confed Cup"
6. ↑ FIFA Confederations Cup - Players (At the beginning of the tournament; FIFA counted the non-participating Sané and Demme)
7. ↑ fifa.com: "Sochi receives world champions Germany"
8. ↑ First victory for the DFB-Elf. dw.com, June 19, 2017, accessed June 26, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Jo Herold: German perspective team defies Chile draw. sportschau.de, June 22, 2017, accessed June 26, 2017 . 
10. ↑ Michael Horeni: Germany sovereign in the semifinals. faz.net, June 25, 2017, accessed June 26, 2017 . 
11. ↑ fifa.com: "Fabián's fantastic long-range shot is the goal of the tournament"
12. ^ Christian Hornung: DFB team after a quick start in the final. In: sportschau.de. June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Michael Horeni: An unexpected German summer fairy tale. In: faz.net. July 2, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2017 . 

Web links

• uefa.com: "A machine for success" - press reviews on the triumph at the Confed Cup