Germany vs Chile – Confed Cup Preview


 
2014 World Cup winners Germany take on the 2015 and 2016 Copa America champions Chile in their second match at the Confederations Cup in Russia. Kick off at the Kazan Arena on June 22nd 2017 is at 21:00 (9pm) local time. Viewers in South Africa can catch all the action from 20:00 (8pm).

Chile are level on points with Germany although they currently sit on top of Group B with a better goal-difference. Both teams came away with hard-fought victories in their opening group matches against Cameroon and Australia respectively and a win for either side tomorrow night would secure an early passage into the semi-finals.

This will be just the seventh time that the two sides will come face-to-face with the South American outfit still seeking a first win over the mighty Germans in an official FIFA competition. Its been a 49 year-long wait since they last tasted victory at all – in a friendly in 1968.  A solitary Mario Gotze strike gave Joachim Low’s side the win the last time the sides met in March 2014.
Full head-to-head:
Played: 7
Germany Wins: 5
Draws: 0
Chile Wins: 2
Germany Goals: 12
Chile Goals: 7

Die Mannschaft have one of the youngest squads in the tournament and have made it clear that although they are quite capable of taking home the Confed Cup, their intention is to use this tournament as a building block towards the future. Hoffenheim forward Sandro Vagner is the oldest player in the squad at 29. In their 3-2 victory against the Socceroos, youngsters like Leon Goretzka (22), Julian Brandt (21) and Timo Werner (21) were given the chance to showcase their talents and left fans’ mouths watering at the prospect of yet another golden generation of German footballers.

Chile by contrast have the oldest squad at this year’s edition. Only four players in their 23-man squad are under the age of 26 while a total of 10 are over the age of 30. These include goalkeeper and captain Claudio Bravo (34), Jean Beausejour (33) and Gonzalo Jara (31) who have all starred in their recent Copa America successes. Star forward Alexis Sanchez came into this tournament off the back of 24 goals in the Premier League for Arsenal and La Roja will be relying on him once again to deliver on the international stage too.

Published: 06/21/2017