Germany's young team beats Chile 1-0 to win its first Confederations Cup

Germany has beaten Chile 1-0 victory to win the Fifa Confederations Cup in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Lars Stindl scored the only goal of the game in the 20th minute. The German side, with an average age of only 23, managed to secure the country's first Confederations Cup trophy.

"This was a magic match for us, for our young players who don't have this international experience," coach Joachim Löw said. "The way we were so single minded in the victory, it was very impressive."

While Germany was equipped with a fairly green team, Chile's side was filled with trophy-winning veterans.

La Roja comes off two consecutive international trophies, beating Argentina in the Copa America final both in 2015 and 2016.

"We dominated, we played very well, we controlled the game, but football is the way it is...sometimes it's not enough and accidents happen," Chile coach Juan Antonio Pizzi said after the match, according to ESPN.

Chile's Charles Aranguiz, Eduardo Vargas and Arturo Vidal all had shots at goal in the first 20 minutes. La Roja had their best chance to score after Marc-Andre ter Stegen knocked a vicious shot from Vidal, placing the ball with Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez who hit the ball wide.

Marcelo Diaz, who was deep between the centre backs, mistakenly turned the wrong way into the path of Timo Werner, who nabbed the ball away and knocked it into the space. The RB Leipzig squared past goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, allowing unmarked Stindl to tap the ball into an empty net.

"The goal changed everything," Pizzi said. "It changed the way the players felt, it also made our opponent stronger of course. They felt better immediately."

A similar mistake by Gary Medel gave Leon Goretzka the chance to advance the score to 2-0 but Bravo managed to save it.

A tense moment arose after Gonzalo Jara knocked Werner in the jaw in an incident missed by referee Milorad Mazic, but VAR flagged it, prompting Mazic to show Jara a yellow card. "He hit him in the face," Löw said afterwards. "You expect that to be a red, no?"

As the match continued, Chile tried to take greater risks but paid for it at the back. Vidal missed a great opportunity and tempers rose again when Mazic refused to consult replays after Sanchez went down.

Germany prevented Chile from gaining the possession they enjoyed in the first half, and held their own to win the Confederations Cup.

"We had to fight for every single meter of the pitch to defend our lead," Löw said after the match.

"They are an outstanding team. But we were single-minded about this victory. And I am so, so impressed with that. We're talking about a team with so little international experience dealing so well with the pressure, with the nerves, with a talented, experienced opponent. I am mega-proud of them."

Pizzi, though disappointed with his team's loss, was also proud. "We knew we can compete with the very best in the world and we showed it again today. We have to accept that luck and incidents are a part of it. We can't complain," he said.

"We know this is the way forward for us and we've had confirmation of it again. We go home with no energy left, lots of glory and no trophy. That's football," Pizzi added, referring to the high risk/high reward philosophy of his predecessors Marcelo Bielsa and Jorge Sampaoli.

The Associated Press noted that the eighth edition of the championship, which features the regional champions, World Cup holders and next World Cup hosts, may be its last. The competition failed to attract interest from outside the competing countries.

Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup, cannot host the Confederations Cup in 2021 because it would have to be moved to November or December and would, therefore, disrupt a second European club season.