Das Experiment: Werner’s Coming Out

Timo Werner featured prominently for Germany on Sunday against Cameroon at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup (photo credit:Source: Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts-Zimbio)

Sunday’s match against Cameroon may well be the world’s formal introduction to Timo Werner. Werner, who was scoring the goals this past Bundesliga season for RB Leipzig, scored two today against ten-man Cameroon in Germany’s 3-1. It is also Joachim Löw’s 100th win as manager of Germany in his 150th match.

We had a VAR review for mistaken identity after Sebastien Siani was initially sent off for a rash challenge on Emre Can, before the VAR showed that it was Ernest Mabouka who did the dirty deed. Cameroon still attacked with ten men, but Germany, even with this youthful squad, possessed that extra gear that Cameroon doesn’t have.

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen had a great save in the match, but also a bad moment in the lead up to Cameroon’s goal. So there are still some flies in the ointment on that end.

On Thursday, it’s the semifinal against Mexico and it will be interesting to see which Mexico team shows up. The one that impressed in a draw against Portugal, was not impressive in a win against New Zealand, or the one that just got by against a poor Russian side. Every match in this Confederations Cup is a test for this German team and thus far they have passed each test. Now, can they win a knockout match against a Mexican side trying to prove that they can hang with the elites?

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