Germany's players pose with the trophy after
winning the 2017 Confederations Cup final
football match between Chile and Germany at
the Saint Petersburg Stadium in Saint
Petersburg on July 2, 2017. / AFP PHOTO /
FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT The Confederations Cup has come and gone,
but it has left us with memories, introduced
new stars to the world stage and whetted our
appetite for next year’s World Cup. Russia have
also shown their hospitality and readiness to
welcome the world. A total of 43 goals were scored and every team managed to register at
least a goal in the competition. Unarguably, the
biggest winners in Russia were the Germans,
while the Chileans and Portuguese also had a
commendable tournament. Germany beat Chile on Sunday night to win
their first ever Confederations Cup and just
about the only trophy missing in their cabinet. What made the victory very impressive was the
fact that they brought a largely untested and
youthful squad to Russia, with star players like
Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Ozil, Toni
Kroos and Thomas Muller all left at home. They
recently won the European Under-21 Championship and four players from the
starting line-up in their 1-0 final win over Chile
would have been eligible for that tournament.
This is a wonderful time for ‘die maanschaft’ as
they basically won the tournament with a
second-string side which shows the abundance of quality talent at their disposal. They won it in very impressive fashion,
winning four and drawing one of the five
matches they played, scoring twelve goals and
conceding five (just once in the knock out
stages). Joachim Low’s decision to use this
team and rest the regulars has paid off and has also given him a dilemma for the selection of
his final squad for next year’s world Cup, if
they qualify. He is one of the most brilliant
coaches in world football, but doesn’t get the
recognition he deserves. FIFA’s initial
disappointment of Low’s decision will have turned to a pleasant surprise as it has
unearthed and introduced new exciting talents
to the consciousness of a larger audience. Chile are having a tough time in their World
Cup qualifying campaign, but their
performance at this competition should give
them the needed boost to finish that campaign
on a high and come back to Russia next year.
They showed that they can compete with the best and also how experienced and difficult
they are to beat in a tournament. They won
only one game in open play and didn’t lose
until the final game. Claudio Bravo also
reminded the watching world of his quality
after his nightmarish season in England with Manchester City. Portugal had a decent tournament and it took
the lottery of penalty kicks to deny them a
place in the final, they however compensated
for that disappointment by winning the third-
place game against Mexico. Ronaldo was a key
figure for them, but his interest in the tournament ended after their semi-final loss to
Chile as he was allowed to leave the team and
meet his twins, who were birthed during the
competition. New AC Milan signing, Andre Silva
also showed us a glimpse of his goal scoring
prowess, while the likes of Pepe, Bruno Alves and Jose Fonte all showed that they were still
able of mixing it up against younger attackers
despite their veteran status. We also saw other veterans make appearances
in Russia, as the likes of Tim Cahill and Rafael
Marquez showed that age is just a number with
assured and solid performances for their
teams. Russia seems to be ready to host the
world next year and from what we’ve seen so far, attendance will not be affected by the
performance of the host nation. We will now
start ticking off the dates on our calendars as
we wait with excitement for the World Cup
2018.

Photos and Source:- http://legendbaze.ga/2017/07/germany-wins-it-all-as-the-confederations-cup-comes-to-an-end/