Germany won Confederation's Cup with their B-team. Draxler takes Golden Ball (imo Goretzka or Stindl would have been better), Werner wins Golden Boot (3 goals, tied with Goretzka and Stindl but won via having 2 assists) and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen was voted Man of the Match thanks to some truly heroic saves.
First half was very exciting, Chile had a lot of early chances but the biggest weakness of this golden generation was exposed: they lack a truly clinical finisher up top (kind of ironic considering this nation produced the likes of Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas but whatever). Germany were very hard-pressed in the opening and Isla and Beausejour were able to run in behind and cross easily. Unfortunately, there was nobody in the box who could reach them.
The first game-changer was Diaz's giveaway which allowed Goretzka to set Werner free so he could tee up Stindl. After kind of spinning their wheels for the first 20 mins, Germany finally had an exploitable weak point: Chile's lack of pace at the back coupled with their reckless giveaways in midfield. Following the goal, Chile found it harder to create as both Diaz as well as Jara and Medel found themselves closed down, which in turn forced all of Aranguiz, Vidal, and Alexis deeper as they had to pick up the ball from deeper positions. Isla and Beausejour also had even fewer targets to aim at, so Chile ended up banging their heads against a German wall for the rest of the half.
This pattern continued into the second half as Chile's attack was forced deeper to protect their center-backs, who were exposed time and time again by the pace of Werner and Draxler in attack. Only good saves and lucky deflections kept the Germans off the scoreboard, while Chile were restricted to efforts from distance by Vidal and Aranguiz and poor corners from Alexis.
The second major incident occurred when Jara raised an elbow and clipped Werner as the striker attempted to turn. Despite Jonas Hector refusing to throw the ball until referee Milorad Mazic consulted the video assistant, Jara received a yellow instead of a straight red. This changed the game as Chile began playing recklessly, with Vidal and Aranguiz among those using full-body lunges to win the ball back. Germany responded in kind, culminating in a minor
skirmish between Vidal and his Bayern teammate Kimmich.
Chile actually did force a couple of chances at the end, with Beausejour finding Sanchez who was tackled, with the ball falling to Vidal whose shot was saved by Ter Stegen. Aranguiz also forced a save from Ter Stegen, but the worst miss came when substitute Edson Puch managed to cutback to Zagar whose effort was blazed wide with an empty net. Ter Stegen finished his performance was a save from an Alexis free-kick.
Starting lineups:
Chile: Bravo; Isla, Jara, Medel, Beausejour; Aránguiz (Zagar 81'), Marcelo Díaz (Valencia 53'), Tucu Hernández; Vidal; Alexis, Vargas (Puch 81').
Subs: Herrera, Toselli, Diaz, Roco, Mena, Silva, Fuenzalida, Puch, Rodriguez, Gutierez, Zagal, Valencia.
Germany: ter Stegen; Mustafi, Ginter, Rudiger; Kimmich, Rudy, Goretzka (Sule 90+1'), Hector; Draxler, Werner (Can 79'), Stindl.
Subs:
Congratulations to Germany for a fine summer of football so far, and to Chile for making it to 3/3 finals in 3 summers.