Low says team spirit is the key to young German side’s progress

GERMANY

V MEXICO

Germany boss Joachim Low is thrilled with the progress his young squad have made as the world champions seek to advance to the Confederations Cup final at Mexico’s expense tonight.

Low will be seeking a 101st victory in his 151st game in charge of Germany when they face Mexico in Sochi, and believes his team have already excelled by reaching the last four in Russia.

“I’m really happy to be in the semi-final with this side,” said Low. “Our main aim is always to be one of the last four teams in any competition. And you couldn’t necessarily expect that from this team.

“Nonetheless, they did it, and did so by overcoming a few different hurdles in the tournament. It’s nice that the team is bonding, because the players are spending time with each other off the pitch too.

“They’re incredibly happy to be here. Not a single play-

0 Julian Draxler: Ambitious. er is seeking to be in the spotlight – instead they all want to succeed as a team.

“We’re pleased to have made it to the semi-final and we’ll be coming up against strong opponents in the form of Mexico. We want to make it to the final. Our players are hungry, but we need to play better than we did in the first half against Cameroon [a 3-1 win on Sunday].”

Low plans to rotate his starting line-up once again, given the proximity of the fixtures.

Julian Draxler was captain against Cameroon and Low lauded his skipper.

“Julian is a player who is technically superb, has pace, can play in space, and can finish,” he said. “He’s very ambitious here and there’s no question that he wants to win the Confed Cup.”

In ten previous meetings, Mexico have just one win, in 1985. However, Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio dismissed the fact that Germany’s youthful exuberance could be advantageous.

He said: “You can be young and have a lot of experience. A 30-year-old person that starts studying cardiology will know a lot less than a 21-year-old graduate.”

Bayer Leverkusen striker Javier Hernandez added: “We know them, we know about the things that could make them suffer but we are going to focus in our team and our tactics.”