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Mexico respect the young Germans

Despite their youth, Germany have been playing a great tournament, but Mexico will be a serious test for them

www.thefa.com

The Germans came to the Confederations Cup as reigning world champions, but without a single player who would be in their ideal lineup. The organizers attacked Joachim Low for his choice of players, but he justified himself by saying that the reserve team are a quality alternative. His claims have now been confirmed. Germany defeated Cameroon and Australia, drew against Chile in the group stage and earned their spot in the semi-final that will be played in Sochi today. 

A few days ago, Germany's U-21 team eliminated England in the Euro semi-final, after penalty shoot-out, and apparently Germany have not been eliminated by penalties since 1976. Press was interested if Low practiced the penalty kicks with the team, and he gave an interesting answer:

- The secret of the Germany's penalty-kick domination is the fact that we do not waste practice time on that. 

He continued on a more serious note:

- Mexico are a strong team, with great technique, but we are not afraid. We will attack from the start and go for the win. We are pleased we reached the semi-final, but my players want more success and they will give their best today. If I had to compare Mexico to anyone, then that would be Chile. They are a better team than Cameroon or Australia. 

Low experimented a lot with their lineup in the group stage, but since he can count on all of his players today, it is expected that he will send out his best team. 

Mexico have done majority of the work for reaching the semi-final in the first two rounds, even though the hosts threatened them a bit in the third round. Russia took the lead with Samedov's goal, but Mexico started playing better and with Araujo and Lozano's goal they made a comeback and recorded a win that took them in the semi-final. 

Germany are in Russia with a young team, but Juan Osorio has great respect for them:

- What does it matter that the Germans are young? They are all playing in top teams. The experience and youth are completely different things. If you go at a university at the age of 30, you will have less experience than someone who went at the age of 21. The same goes for football. Germany have player who won national cups, Bundesliga, played in the Champions League and Europa League, what else to add.

All that does not mean that Osorio is not giving his team a chance:

- Of course we can handle Germany and represent Mexican football with dignity. You have to know that we are playing in the CONCACAF Federation and that the clashes against football great like Germany are something special for us. We will leave our hearts out there and maybe reach the final!

Unlike Germany, Mexico are having some injury and suspension problems. A huge handicap for them is the suspension of Guardado, and Salcedo got injured against New Zealand. There were some questions regarding Hector Moreno, Diego Reyes, and Javier Hernandez, but it is announced that they will all start.