World champions Germany marched into the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup final with a commanding 4-1 defeat of Mexico at Fisht Olympic Stadium in a scorching hot Sochi on Thursday.
Germany now meet Chile in Sunday’s final at St. Petersburg Stadium, the second time the two sides have met in the tournament, following their 1-1 draw in Kazan in Group B.
An early Leon Goretzka double on six and then eight minutes was enough to ensure ‘Die Mannschaft’ went into the break two goals to the good before Timo Werner added a third after the restart.
A late wonder strike from Marco Fabian gave Mexico a consolation goal, which was shunted into even further obscurity when Amin Younes rolled home a fourth for Germany in stoppage time.
Mexico never recovered from Goretzka’s rapid brace, both times the Schalke midfielder swept the ball home from the right-hand side of the area past goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. Werner’s goal put the result beyond doubt on 59 minutes, when he finished into an empty net after Jonas Hector pulled the ball back from the left.
But the game was brought back to life after Marco Fabian’s tremendous long-range strike that beat Ter Stegen from all of 30 yards on 89 minutes.
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However, Mexico’s foothold to create a nervy finish was wiped out when Younes rolled home Germany’s fourth in injury time, to rubber-stamp Germany’s ticket to the final in St. Petersburg.
The current World Cup holders, who are looking good to return to Russia to defend their title next year, now boast the feat of having a team in the Confederations Cup and European U21 Championships finals.