New-Look Germany to Defeat Mexico

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The second semi-final of the 2017 Confederations Cup will be contested between Germany and Mexico.  The match will take place on Thursday evening at the Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi.

Germany qualified for the Confederations Cup by winning the ultimate prize in football, the 2014 World Cup. Mexico gained their place in the tournament thanks to their victory in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup play-off match.

The Germany manager, Joachim Low, decided to name an experimental squad for the Confederations Cup, choosing to leave his big-name players behind this summer.  So far, the move has paid off and Germany finished top of Group B, which included Chile, Australia and Cameroon.

Germany started their campaign with an exciting 3-2 win over Australia.  This match was expected to be much easier than it turned out for the Germans and some poor defending and goalkeeping allowed Australia to stay in the match until the final whistle.

The match against Chile was always going to be the biggest test for Germany in this group and they were forced to come from behind to get a point in a 1-1 draw.  Lars Stindl was the goal scorer, netting his second of the tournament.

The final game in the group was against Cameroon and despite allowing the African nation a goal, Germany won through 3-1, a result which sealed their place at the top of the group.

Mexico were always going to be up against it in Group A, having been drawn alongside European champions Portugal.  However, with hosts Russia and the weakest nation of the tournament, New Zealand in their group, Mexico had a good chance of making the semi-finals.

Having come back twice in the opening match of the group against Portugal, Mexico left themselves in a good position going into their remaining two games.  The 2-2 draw with the Portuguese featured an injury time equaliser and this was a huge boost to the team.

New Zealand were never going to be major threat in this group but Mexico made hard work of their match against the All Whites.  With the match poised at 1-1 and just 18 minutes remaining on the clock, Oribe Peralta popped up with the winning goal and saved the Mexican’s blushes.

This left Mexico with one more match, against the hosts Russia.  Mexico went behind for the second time in the tournament but once again showed great character to come back and seal a 2-1 win and finish second in Group A.

Joachim Low will revert to his strongest starting XI for this match, with Timo Werner leading the line and receiving support from Julian Draxler and Leon Goretzka.  Andres Guardado is missing through suspension for Mexico, which is a big miss in midfield and Carlos Salcedo is injured.  There are also fitness doubts over Chicharito, Hector Moreno and Diego Reyes.

Trends show Germany have lost only one of their previous twenty matches, keeping 13 clean sheets in the process.  However, 3 of the 4 goals they have conceded in this tournament have come due to poor goalkeeping.  Mexico have scored 2 goals in each of their three games and will fancy their chances of adding another in this one.

The trouble for Mexico will come at the other end of the pitch.  Germany have looked very good in attack and with Guardado and Salcedo missing, plus the potential for other key players to be out, you must back Germany to win this match.  Germany to win and both teams to score makes a tempting bet.