Germans hail super keeper in semi romp
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-yearold Low acknowledging how well his team performed.
Low said in a press conference: “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.”
Captain Julian Draxler believes Goretzka’s goals in the sixth and eighth minutes settled any nerves his teammates may have felt, with Germany being worthy winners on the night.
The Paris St Germain winger told ITV: “We started the game really well and after that things were easier for us. All in all, I think Mexico had a good game but we deserve (to be in) the final.
“We knew we had to play our game and we wanted to start it exactly how we did, so it was good that we scored two early goals and after that, we deserved to win.
“We were focused on our own game, we were concentrated and we wanted to have possession and I think all in all we did well, and like I said before, we deserve to be in the final.
“We have already played them in the group stage so we know they are strong, they are good. For me, they are one of the best teams in the competition so far, so they deserve to be in the final as well and I hope for all the fans that they will see a great final.”
Mexico boss Juan Carlos Osario was disappointed with the heavy defeat as he felt his side were closer to Germany than the scoreline suggested.
He said in a press conference: “We knew it would be a difficult match. We deserved a better result. We had many opportunities and we have shown that we can get to their goalmouth but they were very efficient. We gave them too much room.
“But we should have scored at least one or two more goals.
“We had enough chances to do so.
“Even after conceding early on we had the mental strength to fight back.”