Germany’s depth is on display
A lineup with only three members of World Cup title team routs Mexico.
SOCHI, Russia — Just how much Leon Goretzka wanted to seize his opportunity in an experimental German squad became clear after only eight minutes against Mexico.
With two goals in the space of 109 seconds on Thursday, Goretzka put the defense-ragged Mexicans on the back foot and set Germany on its way to the Confederations Cup final with a clinical 4-1 victory.
Germany coach Joachim Loew is using the World Cup warmup tournament to assess his pool of talent, resting all but three of his world champions from 2014. Silverware was never the priority. But the World Cup will have another trophy for company if Loew’s fledglings can beat Chile on Sunday in St. Petersburg.
Germany drew 1-1 with the South American champions in the group stage, recovering after conceding in the sixth minute — and learning from the lax start.
“Against Chile in particular we were caught off guard; we’d discussed that beforehand and implemented it well today,” the 22-year-old Goretzka said. “After getting through the group stage, our objective was to reach the final. We’ve done that convincingly. Now we want to win the title and reward ourselves for our performances so far.”
All three German scorers were players making their tournament debuts. After Goretzka scored in the sixth and eighth minutes, Timo Werner and Amin Younes scored in the second half.
“They have developed really well,” Loew said. “Over these weeks, we have become a genuine team and that is important. They are very ambitious and yearning to be part of the national team.”
Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen was kept busy. There were 25 shots on goal but Ter Stegen only conceded in the 89th minute, when he was beaten by Marco Fabian.
Mexico will play Portugal on Sunday in the third-place match in Moscow.