Germany have won the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup following a 1-0 win over Chile in the final on Sunday in St. Petersburg.
Lars Stindl scored the lone goal after 21 minutes, walking the ball into the net off a Timo Werner pass that beat Chile’s Claudio Bravo.
While the goal was as easy as they come, the game was by no means that for the Germans as Chile threatened time and again to score.
In fact, Chile should have taken the lead in the moment before Germany broke the deadlock.
Marc-Andre Ter Stergen had parried a Arturo Vidal shot to the path of Alexis Sanchez, who somehow failed to convert from close range.
The Arsenal man’s miss prompted a German attack which the Chileans initially repelled it.
But an error by Marcelo Díaz allowed Werner to regain possession and set up Stindl for the easiest of tap-ins to give Germany the lead.
Germany captain, Julian Draxler shot narrowly wide while Leon Goretzka also missed came close as the world champs went into the break with the single-goal lead.
Tempers started to spark in the second half, with Vidal and Germany’s Joshua Kimmich having to be separated.
Both Bayern Munich teammates got booked for their troubles, while Chile’s Gonzalo Jara got booked after the referee deemed his elbow to Werner’s face bad enough to enter the books.
But that aside, Chile threatened to score through Eduardo Vargas whose shot was saved by Ter Stergen.
Chile had a close range effort skied with the goal gaping while Sanchez saw a 95th minute free-kick saved as Germany held on for the title.