Joachim Loew on Sunday hailed Germany’s next generation of stars after beating Chile 1-0 in the FIFA Confederations Cup final — but added that the challenge is to defend the FIFA World Cup title next year.
Lars Stindl’s simple tap-in was enough to seal Germany’s victory in the final in St Petersburg, Russia, as the youthful world champions lifted the Confederations Cup for the first time.
Germany’s head coach cut a soggy figure at the post-match news conference after his players stormed the stage and showered him in beer.
Photo: AFP
“I am immensely proud of this team, we have only been together for three-and-a-half weeks,” Loew said in a beer-soaked shirt. “You could feel something was happening in training, we came together and it’s a really deserved win.”
Loew took a gamble by leaving first-choice stars such as Thomas Mueller, Jerome Boateng, Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil at home and taking inexperienced youngsters to Russia.
Germany captain Julian Draxler was voted Player of the Tournament and striker Timo Werner finished as the top scorer in Russia with three goals and two assists.
German football has a bright future after the nation’s Under-21 side were crowned European champions on Friday in Poland.
However, head coach Loew said the hard work for his rising stars is just beginning as they bid to earn a place in die Mannschaft’s squad for next year’s World Cup.
Only three of the Confederations Cup winning team — Jonas Hector, Joshua Kimmich and Julian Draxler — are first-choice starters.
“Despite our success here and with the juniors in Poland, we’ll still have to reconfirm our victories next year [at the World Cup], but the job starts now, the work is just beginning,” Loew said. “The young ones are only just coming up, this is the first tournament for many of these players. They have done well, but staying at the top is another matter and we will have to work hard to defend our title next year.”
“The team had to fight back, the Chileans are very robust and things were heating up in the second half, we were fighting for every meter to defend our lead,” he said. “It was a magic match for our young players, they haven’t had much experience, but they showed their single-minded determination, which was quite impressive.”
Chile were lucky not to have defender Gonzalo Jara sent off for elbowing Werner in the face in the second half, but despite a review by the video assistant referee (VAR), Jara was only booked.
“I didn’t see it from where I was standing, but the VAR was consulted and I saw the reply,” Loew said. “It could have been worthy of a red card and I think if a referee sees something like that, he could and should have dismissed him.”
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on
RSS