Football
ESPN staff 7y

Draxler, Low rejoice in Confederations Cup win that silenced critics

Joachim Low called Germany's Confederations Cup final win against Chile "an absolute joy" after his inexperienced national team held on for a 1-0 victory in Saint Petersburg on Sunday night.

Lars Stindl scored the only goal of the match after Timo Werner stole the ball from Chile's Marcelo Diaz in a dangerous spot and beat Claudio Bravo in goal to set up his teammate for an easy tap in.

Low had been criticised by some ahead of the match for leaving many of his more experienced senior team players at home in order to give some of his younger stars a chance, and the gamble paid off.

Following the match, the Germany manager told SID: "This is an absolute joy. We showed unbelievable performances for three weeks and today fought for every metre, too.

"The boys did great, I am unbelievably proud of them. Such a final always has something magical to it.

"Many of our players hadn't played in a final before, they will not forget this match for the rest of their lives.

"In the second half it was a hard and hectic match, the Chileans do not shy away from anything but the boys jumped right into it."

With the likes of Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels and Toni Kroos given the tournament off, Stindl, Werner, Julian Draxler and Leon Goretzka acquitted themselves well en route to Germany's first-ever win in the Confederations Cup.

It was also the first time the reigning World Cup champions from the previous cycle won the Confed Cup and Low's side did it with no players over 30 on the roster and with an average age of under 25 in their starting XI for the final.

Low joked: "We could say that now we have to think about which of the players we left at home we can still add to this team next year.

"Seriously though, we have created alternatives, by giving young players experience in such games as has happened here. Winning here and at the European U21 Championship does not guarantee the World Cup next year.

"Germany always belong to the favourites and we will be capable of handling that."

Golden Ball winner Draxler captained the team throughout the tournament and called the victory "extraordinary" given the lack of experience and playing time these players had together at the highest level for Germany.

"Unbelievable," Draxler said.  "It was a heated contest if you think about how the Confederations Cup was ridiculed beforehand. We fought really well and deserved the win.

"We never played with such lineups, that's why it's even better to win this way. Every title is special but this [combination of players] makes it really extraordinary.

"For me personally, this tournament was extremely important because I took over a new role [as captain].

"Finally, finally we can go on holidays -- and we even take a cup with us."

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