Germany’s second string have impressed so far in the Confederations Cup and are well-positioned to reach the semi-finals after beating Australia and drawing with Chile. They left out most of their heavy hitters for this competition, and it has provided fringe players with a great chance of staking a claim for a place on the plane to Russia for the 2018 World Cup. Germany are favourites to win it, and it is easy to see why given their remarkable strength in depth. Their young players should make short work of African champions Cameroon in this final group game, and they have a great chance of winning the Confederations Cup.
Portugal and Chile both elected to send a strong squad to this tournament, so the organisers must have been dismayed to see Germany’s selection. No Manuel Neuer, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos, Mats Hummels, Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng, Mario Gotze et al. Instead they chose to send an experimental squad full of young players barely tested at international level. But they have exceeded expectations, playing an exciting brand of attacking football. Where they need to improve is in defence.
Germany shipped two goals against a underwhelming Australia side and scraped a 3-2 win, and failed to beat Chile due to a defensive mishap as Shkodran Mustafi let in his Arsenal teammate Alexis Sanchez to stab past the goalkeeper. This represents a strong opportunity to instil some discipline and solidity in an inexperienced backline that is missing the Hummels, Boateng, Benedikt Howedes and so on. There is plenty of quality in there, however, in the likes of Mustafi, Borussia Dortmund’s Mathias Ginter, Antonio Rudiger of Roma and Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich. These players can form the heart of a successful Germany defence for years after Hummels and Boateng retire and this is a great opportunity to give them time to gel and form a cohesive unit.
Cameroon have been disappointing so far in this tournament. They fell to a 2-0 defeat against Chile in their first game, and then played out a miserable 1-1 draw with Australia in the following game. They have been poor in the final third and their finishing has been pretty dreadful. African teams have frequently underachieved when playing away from their home continent over the years and Cameroon’s performance here thus far offers a damning indictment of the quality on offer in Africa given that they are its champions. It is hard to see how they won that title, as Ivory Coast, Egypt and even Algeria seem like better sides.
They are going home after this game and they are likely to go out with a whimper. A straight win for Germany does not offer a great deal of value – the best price is just 1.40 with Stan James and Bet Stars – so you have to look at different markets. Germany to win half-time / full-time looks interesting as they are likely to be the fresher team. Germany have used their squad in this tournament and really rotated because they have depth of quality in every position. Coral and other green listed bookmakers have 2.15 on Germany to win half-time / full-time. Germany to win to nil also looks interesting at 2.60 with Bet Victor. They have conceded three goals in two games, but they will not get a better opportunity in this tournament to keep a clean sheet than against this toothless Cameroon side. Borussia Monchengladbach’s Lars Stindl is the top goal scorer so far at this tournament and he will relish the chance to play against this Cameroon defence. You can back him at 2.05 with Ladbrokes to score at any time and that looks a good bet too.
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