The Germany national team opened their Confed Cup campaign with a win, successfully overcoming Australia 3-2. Head coach Joachim Löw assesses in an interview with DFB.de his young side’s performance and looks ahead to the match against Copa-America winners Chile on Thursday (20:00 CEST).
Interviewer: Mr Löw, how pleased are you with the 3-2 win in your opening game of the Confed Cup against Australia?
Joachim Löw: I’m pleased that we’ve picked up our first three points and in my view, we played very well in the second half. We combined well and had everything under control. We made a lot of runs going forward and the only negative was only being 2-1 up despite creating so many chances. We lost our way a little bit after 60 minutes and we didn’t make the most of our attacks as consistently.
Interviewer: Were the final touches missing slightly there?
Löw: Yes, we can work on keeping our stability. But despite all that, you can’t put expectations too high. We had some very good periods, which I’m really pleased about. I do not expect that everything will go perfectly after just ten days. We should appreciate how well the team has been able to implement the two or three key things we have been focusing on. I’m delighted with that as it is not something we had expected them to do so well.
Interviewer: How did you rate the performance of Leon Goretzka, who was involved in all three goals?
Löw: He was really strong, just as he has been the whole time since he has been with us. Leon put himself about and worked hard. He won challenges in defence and made excellent runs going forward. That is very hard to defend against as we saw with the third goal. He is in great form and is giving a very good impression.
Interviewer: What did you make of goalkeeper Bernd Leno’s performance?
Löw: The first shot from 16 metres was not easy to stop because it was hit really cleanly. He could have held the second but he is a very good goalkeeper and I have been very impressed with him in training. He has only made one mistake. That is not a problem for me.
Interviewer: You face Chile in your next game on Thursday.
Löw: It is definitely a good thing that not everything went well. Now we know what we need to work on. The Chile game will be at a different level. Chile are incredibly versatile and play a very intense game, so we need to see if we can maintain our stability for the entire 90 minutes, not just 60.
Interviewer: Are Chile still the tournament favourites for you?
Löw: Chile are definitely one of the best teams in the world. They have fantastic individual quality and are very versatile tactically in a way that most teams are not. They can change things up easily during a match. The players know where to make the runs and have incredible power going forward. They are an absolute top-class team.
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The Germany national team opened their Confed Cup campaign with a win, successfully overcoming Australia 3-2. Head coach Joachim Löw assesses in an interview with DFB.de his young side’s performance and looks ahead to the match against Copa-America winners Chile on Thursday (20:00 CEST).
Interviewer: Mr Löw, how pleased are you with the 3-2 win in your opening game of the Confed Cup against Australia?
Joachim Löw: I’m pleased that we’ve picked up our first three points and in my view, we played very well in the second half. We combined well and had everything under control. We made a lot of runs going forward and the only negative was only being 2-1 up despite creating so many chances. We lost our way a little bit after 60 minutes and we didn’t make the most of our attacks as consistently.
Interviewer: Were the final touches missing slightly there?
Löw: Yes, we can work on keeping our stability. But despite all that, you can’t put expectations too high. We had some very good periods, which I’m really pleased about. I do not expect that everything will go perfectly after just ten days. We should appreciate how well the team has been able to implement the two or three key things we have been focusing on. I’m delighted with that as it is not something we had expected them to do so well.
Interviewer: How did you rate the performance of Leon Goretzka, who was involved in all three goals?
Löw: He was really strong, just as he has been the whole time since he has been with us. Leon put himself about and worked hard. He won challenges in defence and made excellent runs going forward. That is very hard to defend against as we saw with the third goal. He is in great form and is giving a very good impression.
Interviewer: What did you make of goalkeeper Bernd Leno’s performance?
Löw: The first shot from 16 metres was not easy to stop because it was hit really cleanly. He could have held the second but he is a very good goalkeeper and I have been very impressed with him in training. He has only made one mistake. That is not a problem for me.
Interviewer: You face Chile in your next game on Thursday.
Löw: It is definitely a good thing that not everything went well. Now we know what we need to work on. The Chile game will be at a different level. Chile are incredibly versatile and play a very intense game, so we need to see if we can maintain our stability for the entire 90 minutes, not just 60.
Interviewer: Are Chile still the tournament favourites for you?
Löw: Chile are definitely one of the best teams in the world. They have fantastic individual quality and are very versatile tactically in a way that most teams are not. They can change things up easily during a match. The players know where to make the runs and have incredible power going forward. They are an absolute top-class team.
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