Thanks to a 4-1 win over Mexico, Joachim Löw’s Germany side have secured their place in Sunday’s Confederations Cup final in St. Petersburg, where they will face Chile. DFB.de rounds up the thoughts of the head coach and some of the Die Mannschaft players following Thursday night’s semi-final.
JOACHIM LÖW: As a coach, you obviously go into a tournament hoping to reach the final, but it’s not something you can take for granted with this young team. The boys have fought hard and really deserve their place in the final. It was a high-intensity game and we wanted to show our presence early on and dictate the play. We had to do a lot of defensive work though, as we weren’t as composed after our two goals and didn’t move the ball around well. We improved after the break. There are some happy faces in the changing room, but the lads aren’t going overboard. This team has turned into a real unit very quickly and are working for each other.
Leon Goretzka was fantastic in the opening stages and made some great runs. He’s in incredible form and is a top footballer. I gave Benjamin Henrichs his chance today for good reason. He has worked well in training and also grabbed an assist against Cameroon.
LEON GORETZKA: It was important that we made a good start. We’ve struggled in the opening stages in recent games, but we executed our plan quickly and to good effect this time. We were doing a lot of chasing after the goals, but we managed to get a grip on the game in time. Now it’s about making sure our good work pays off by going on to lift the trophy.
TIMO WERNER: We started well, but then we dropped off. It’s a deserved win in the end though. We’re a young, hungry team. Nevertheless, we have some experience too, with plenty of Bundesliga games under our belts.
JULIAN DRAXLER: We’ve gotten better as the tournament has gone on. Beating Mexico 4-1 in the semi-finals is anything but a given. I’m not the only one taking on responsibility either; so many players have stepped up to the plate. We have to give it our all one last time in Sunday’s final, even if we’re starting to feel it in the legs a little.
MARC-ANDRÉ TER STEGEN: We were just chasing our opponents around for half an hour after our second goal. There were periods where we were very unstructured. It was a real battling performance from the boys in the second half, which is what we were aiming for. It’s obviously a great feeling to be chosen by the coaching team as the first-choice goalkeeper for the remainder of the tournament. I’m happy that I could put in a good performance today. We played very well in general in the second half, but we can still build on that.
Thanks to a 4-1 win over Mexico, Joachim Löw’s Germany side have secured their place in Sunday’s Confederations Cup final in St. Petersburg, where they will face Chile. DFB.de rounds up the thoughts of the head coach and some of the Die Mannschaft players following Thursday night’s semi-final.
JOACHIM LÖW: As a coach, you obviously go into a tournament hoping to reach the final, but it’s not something you can take for granted with this young team. The boys have fought hard and really deserve their place in the final. It was a high-intensity game and we wanted to show our presence early on and dictate the play. We had to do a lot of defensive work though, as we weren’t as composed after our two goals and didn’t move the ball around well. We improved after the break. There are some happy faces in the changing room, but the lads aren’t going overboard. This team has turned into a real unit very quickly and are working for each other.
Leon Goretzka was fantastic in the opening stages and made some great runs. He’s in incredible form and is a top footballer. I gave Benjamin Henrichs his chance today for good reason. He has worked well in training and also grabbed an assist against Cameroon.
LEON GORETZKA: It was important that we made a good start. We’ve struggled in the opening stages in recent games, but we executed our plan quickly and to good effect this time. We were doing a lot of chasing after the goals, but we managed to get a grip on the game in time. Now it’s about making sure our good work pays off by going on to lift the trophy.
TIMO WERNER: We started well, but then we dropped off. It’s a deserved win in the end though. We’re a young, hungry team. Nevertheless, we have some experience too, with plenty of Bundesliga games under our belts.
JULIAN DRAXLER: We’ve gotten better as the tournament has gone on. Beating Mexico 4-1 in the semi-finals is anything but a given. I’m not the only one taking on responsibility either; so many players have stepped up to the plate. We have to give it our all one last time in Sunday’s final, even if we’re starting to feel it in the legs a little.
MARC-ANDRÉ TER STEGEN: We were just chasing our opponents around for half an hour after our second goal. There were periods where we were very unstructured. It was a real battling performance from the boys in the second half, which is what we were aiming for. It’s obviously a great feeling to be chosen by the coaching team as the first-choice goalkeeper for the remainder of the tournament. I’m happy that I could put in a good performance today. We played very well in general in the second half, but we can still build on that.
