LOW HAILS KEEPER FOR GERMANY WIN

GERMANY manager Joachim Low singled out goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen for particular praise as his young side reached the Confederations Cup final following a comfortable 4-1 victory over Mexico.

The Barcelona custodian made several key saves throughout the semi-final clash as Schalke midfielder Leon Goretzka scored an early brace and second-half strikes from Timo Werner and Amin Younes sealed their place in Sunday’s showpiece with Chile in St Petersburg.

Marco Fabian scored a fantastic late consolation goal for Mexico to briefly make it 3-1 but the world champions were too good, with 57-year-old Low acknowledging how well his team performed.

Low said: “Marc made some wonderful saves. They had their chances and we had to run a lot.

“By no means was it an easy win. It was a really difficult game.

“It was a really intense match, because Mexico are technically very strong as well.

“But we did exactly what we had planned to do.

“The Mexicans always want to impose their game on their opponents and that’s what we wanted to prevent from the start.

“We wanted to dominate early on and attack them.

“Our young players deserve credit for that.

“We got what we wanted but you can’t count on that happening before the game. It was a wonderful performance.”