Germany’s Leon Goretzka scored two expertly-taken early goals to set it on the way to a thumping 4-1 win over Mexico in a dramatic, end-to-end Confederations Cup semifinal on Thursday.
Mexico had more chances and more possession but its defence left wide open spaces which were ruthlessly exploited by Germany’s young, experimental team.
Goretzka struck twice in the first eight minutes before Timo Werner and Amin Younis added two more in the second half, though Marcio Fabian’s 89th minute goal for Mexico was the most spectacular — a viciously swerving drive from 35 metres.
Germany, whose starting team had an average age of just under 24, will meet Chile in Sunday’s final in St. Petersburg.
“From the beginning, we did exactly what we set out to do — we were very dominant and brilliant in the opening stages,” said Germany’s head coach Joachim Low after the match.
“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.”
After Germany drew 1-1 with Chile in the group stages last Thursday, Low says his team is hungry enough to beat the Copa America champion in the final. “Chile is 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 be trying flat out to pull it off, as they are coming to the end of their season, and we will have to try and counter that.
Germany went ahead after six minutes when Benjamin Henrichs burst down the right and Goretzka swept his low pass into the net from the edge of the penalty area wIt took one minute 49 seconds for Germany to double its as Werner slipped the ball through an open Mexico defence to Goretzka who clipped it over keeper Guillermo Ochoa.
The result (semifinal): Germany 4 (Goretzka 6, 8, Werner 59, Younes 90+1) bt Mexico 1 (Fabian 89) .
