Confederations Cup 2017 Tactical Analysis: Germany Vs Chile

The world champions mainly play in a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 formation, with a lot of positional changes happening throughout the tournament. Germany have also rotated their young squad pretty well. 

Arsenal defender Shokdran Mustafi, who did not play against Mexico in the semis might be included in the squad, also Timo Werner will most probably continue in his role as a lone striker. Whereas Joshua Kimmich, Julien Draxler, and Emre Can be in the XI too.

In his 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, Loew sets up his team to play very offensively, creating an overload in midfield in the opposition half. He uses his centre-backs to play the ball from the back to Leon Goretzka, Sebastian Rudy, and Can, who have been used as central midfielders and their main job is to keep the ball and spread it in wide areas for wing-backs, who play more like deep-lying playmakers.

Against Australia, Loew opted for Julian Brandt and Jonas Hector as wing-backs who were pushed further up the field and Rudy was the only player providing the shield to the back three of Kimmich-Mustafi-Rudiger in a 3-5-2 system. 

Loew tinkered and fielded his team in a 3-4-3 formation against Chile, Cameroon and Mexico. Against Chile, Loew opted to play a little more balanced and possession-based game and tried to nullify Chile's dynamism. Using Kimmich and Hector who are more defensive-minded allowed Germany to nullify Chile's threat from the wings and with Draxler and Goretzka linking up with Lars Stindl, caused quite a few problems to Chile's defence in the second half.

Loew played with the same formation against Cameroon and Mexico but with much more vigour in wider areas which allowed their midfield to push further up and create an overload in and around the final third as against Australia. He let Can, Rudy and Goretzka play their passes short and keep hold of the ball to nullify the threat of the counter.

Germany have scored most of their goals from open play and all of have come from the front three.

Juan Antonio Pizzi set up his team in the 4-3-3 formation for the group stages while switching to a 4-4-2 against Portugal in the semis. Chile have a stable back four of Isla, Medel, Jara, and Beausejour.

The South-America  nation has been very astute defensively conceding just two goals so far in the tournament and the inclusion of Pablo Hernandez gives extra cover to Chile's back four.

Chile being a dynamic side depend a whole lot on their pressing game, which allows them to disrupt the game of the opposition and win back the ball.

Hernandez and Diaz allow them to push forward and press while maintaining the shape. But Chile's high intensity play wears off their ageing players as was seen against Germany in the second half of the group stage match which leaves spaces to be exploited by the opposition. Chile's forward players then are forced to track back and help out defensively which hampers their attacking chances .

Chile boasts one of the most spirited sides in football and Juan Antonio Pizzi's men use it to their full advantage. Allowing both full-backs to bombard up and down, and have numbers in the opposition's half. It gives the Chileans opportunity of the quick ball option when in possession and can also press the opposition relentlessly when out of possession. This creates the turbulence and allows the opposition to make mistakes, as was seen against Germany. 

Arturo Vidal in the more attacking role pulls the strings and his telepathic connection with Alexis Sanchez makes the South Americans even more threatening. Eduardo Vargas and Sanchez take charge of either wing, helped my marching full-backs to put in crosses and allowing Vargas and Sanchez to cut in and take their chances. 

Their high-energy, all-out attack football is mostly very eye catching and the number of players that find themselves in goalscoring positions is quite incredible. 

Germany have used different 3-man defensive partnerships in all four games of the Confederations Cup.  

While defending, Germany's 4 man midfield makes the midfield crowded while they're not on the ball. Can sits back in a more defensive role in midfield providing the shield to the back three, which throws into disarray the game of the opposition and forces them to play the ball long and deep to their striker but the presence of Mustafi and Rudiger in defence means Germany have two quick, tall and strong defenders, who can counter that threat. 

Kimmich and Hector do their jobs by maintaining the width and dropping deep while defending to make it more of a 5-man defence. 

He's Germany's most experienced player with 33 caps for the national team, he's also one of only three players who were part of the World Cup-winning squad. Given the captaincy, the PSG man has risen to the occasion and has marshalled his troops quite well so far. He has scored one and assisted one goal so far in the tournament and has created quite a few changes for other forward players.

Chile's success on the field is very largely dependent on Alexis Sanchez. His willingness to give his all for the team, combined with his brilliant footballing abilities makes him Chile's biggest threat. Sanchez was their main man leading them to the Copa America title last year and has the onus again to lead then to their third major title in two years.