Germany’s inexperience highlighted at Confederations Cup
SOCHI, Russia — The learning curve facing an inexperienced and experimental German side became clearer to coach Joachim Loew after they were given a fright by Australia at the Confederations Cup on Monday.
It wasn’t just goalkeeper Bernd Leno’s two blunders, but the way Germany eased off in the second half that bothered Loew. Still, Germany held on to open its Group B campaign with a 3-2 victory in Sochi.
“Who would expect it to be perfect?” Loew said through a translator. “This is a team that never played together so we have done a lot of work over ten days.”
For Loew, this eight-team World Cup warm-up competition is merely a stepping stone on the path to defending the title won in Brazil in 2014.
“We were losing our thread, our attacks were not as consistent and we weren’t single-minded,” Loew said. “We need to work on maintaining our stability ... but this is a new team and things have worked very well.”
Only two members of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning squad started the game in Sochi and, while the team was dynamic going forward, it was vulnerable at the back.
Lars Stindl marked his tournament debut with a goal after five minutes that was cancelled out by Tommy Rogic when the Australia forward fired the ball under Leno.
Julian Draxler, an unused substitute in the 2014 World Cup final win over Argentina, restored Germany’s lead from the penalty spot before halftime.
Although Leon Goretzka extended the German lead three minutes into the second half, another blunder by Leno ensured it was a nervy conclusion to the game in the Black Sea resort. A shot from Rogic through a crowded penalty area was spilled by the Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper and Tomi Juric stabbed the rebound into the net.
The Australian threat persisted but Germany clung on to collect three points in the Fisht Stadium, where about 20,000 seats were empty.
“We invested a lot in the first half and ran a lot,” Germany defender Joshua Kimmich said.