(MENAFN- Gulf Times) As expected Germany won the Confederations Cup but even the Russians are celebrating after the 'warm-up event to next year's FIFA World Cup went off without a hiccup.
The smooth organisation of the tournament even earned Russia praise from Germany's coach Joachim Loew and FIFA president Gianni Infantino who gave them the seal of approval to host next year's World Cup.
With less than a year to go before the quadrennial event starts on June 14, 2018, fears that racism and hooliganism would blight the Confed Cup proved unfounded.
'We had been hearing before this tournament about a lot of ‘problems' we would experience here, said Infantino.
'If a problematic tournament looks like this one, well, I want to have many problematic tournaments going forward, he quipped.
Germany's head coach Loew warmly praised the hosts after his inexperienced squad, minus their World Cup winning stars, came of age to beat Chile.
'Many thanks to Russia — you have been great hosts in the different cities where we have played, said Loew.
'We have seen excellent conditions at the stadiums, this has been brilliantly organised and we've met some outstanding people along the way.
The 16 matches passed off without incident off the field and the main talking points were the controversial testing of the video assistant referee (VAR) and Cristiano Ronaldo's performances for Portugal.
The Real Madrid superstar produced three man-of-the-match performances, but left the tournament when Portugal lost their semi-final to Chile — jetting off to be with his new-born twins rather than help beat Mexico in the third-place play-off.
There had been a concern of a lack of interest in the Confed Cup as ticket sales appeared sluggish for months ahead of the event.
However, the average attendance at the matches was just over 39,000, the third-best result in the tournament's history, TASS reported.
Russia's team, devastated in last year's European championship, went out in the group stage again but put up a good fight winning their opening match against New Zealand before losing narrowly against
Portugal and Mexico.
Meanwhile, Germany's 1-0 victory over Chile saw them end the season on an unbeaten note for the second time in Loew's 11-year reign as national team coach. They had 12 victories and three draws during the season.
The last time that happened was in the season leading up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when Germany won 13 and drew five matches, culminating in the title.
It's the World Cup next year in Russia that remains the focus for Loew. The defence of the 2014 title was the one reason he chose to rest his top stars and select what was described as a B-team for the Confederations Cup.
Loew, it seems, is spoiled for choice. With several young players putting pressure on the established stars, it's a situation any coach would be happy to be in.
MENAFN0307201700670000ID1095595746
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.