Germany beats Chile in bruising Confederations Cup final

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia >> Germany’s experimental young side overcame street-wise Chile to win a bruising Confederations Cup final 1-0 on Sunday, vindicating Joachim Loew’s decision to leave most of his world champions at home.

The only goal came in the 20th minute from the 28-year-old Lars Stindl, who tapped into an empty net after a defensive blunder. While the midfielder was the oldest player in a starting lineup with an average age under 25, he only made his inteational debut less than a month ago.

“This was a magic match for us, for our young players who don’t have this inteational experience,” Loew said. “The way we were so single minded in this victory, it was very impressive.”

Stindl’s third goal of the World Cup warm-up touament came completely against the run of play in a first-half dominated by Chile. But the more experienced south American champions, whose lineup had an average age over 30, could find no way past a side that is effective on the counterattack.

Chile’s frustrations were clear in the second half when Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal squared up to Baye Munich teammate Joshua Kimmich, who was also shoved by Gary Medel.

“Our team today had to fight back a lot,” Loew said, “because the Chileans are very robust players, especially in one-on-ones.”

Gonzalo Jara elbowed Germany forward Timo Weer in the face but escaped with a yellow card despite the incident being reviewed by the referee on a pitch-side monitor. It was the latest moment of confusion during trials of the video replay system by FIFA, which is determined to retain the technology at the World Cup next year in Russia despite major teething problems.

The eighth — and probably last — Confederations Cup proved a useful testing ground for Germany, with Loew able to test the capabilities of the talent at his disposal.

Victory in St. Petersburg came two days after Germany beat Spain in the U-21 European Championship final, signaling a bright future for a country which will retu to Russia in a year to defend the World Cup won in Brazil in 2014.

Portugal 2, Mexico 1 >> Portugal fought back from a goal down to beat Mexico in extra time for the third-place medal.

Facing defeat at the end of the 90 minutes, Portugal sent the game into extra time with Pepe’s volley. Adrien Silva won it with a 104th-minute penalty following Miguel Layun’s handball.

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Portugal defender Luis Neto tued Javier Heandez’s cross into his own net in the 54th to give Mexico a 1-0 lead.

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