By Samindra Kunti
June 30 – Germany and Chile will play the final of the 2017 Confederations this Sunday after eliminating Mexico and Portugal respectively in the semi-finals. For a tournament that was met with scepticism and supposedly fading interest, FIFA is reporting positive TV audiences for the group stages.
In Sochi the world champions thumped Mexico 4-1. The game was over before it had begun in earnest with a quick-fire brace from Leon Goretzka within eight minutes. All that was left to do for Germany was hit Mexico on the counter. Joachim Low’s team were at their best, matching simple execution with a frightening directness. The Mexicans were left nonplussed and looked out of their depth.
Low took a young squad to Russia, but the summer is turning out just fine for him. The German coach has led his country to the last four of every major tournament since 2008. He was also an assistant coach to Jurgen Klinsmann when Die Mannschaft reached the semi-finals of the World Cup on home soil in 2006.
The final will be a repeat of the group game which ended a 1-1 draw though the South American champions dominated. But Germany’s rampant semi-final win against Mexico suggests a team coming into for and may well have swung the pendulum Germany’s way.
Chile will play in their third consecutive international after winning the Copa America in both 2015 and 2016. They edged Portugal in their semi-final in a penalty shoutout after a nervy and evenly-balanced 120 minutes. The Chileans played with their usual grinta and grind, pressing and excelling in quick ball retention. Portugal were tactical, but struggled to create chances.
In the shoot-out Manchester City’s much-maligned goalkeeper Claudio Bravo became the hero, saving all three penalties of Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho and Nani to propel Chile to a 3-0 win.
With the tournament set for a grand final, FIFA has reported impressive TV audience figures and ‘considerable interest’ in the competition on FIFA’s digital platforms, with 30 million fans visiting its website, Facebook page, Instragram and Twitter accounts, and vKontakte pages.
In Germany Die Mannschaft’s matches garnered an average viewing audience of 7.38million viewers in the group stages, with the match against Chile being the top draw so far with 11,37 million viewers tuning into ARD.
In Mexico, where Televisa and TV Azteca share the broadcast, Mexico vs Portugal had a combined audience of 10.16 million viewers, accounting for a market share of 47.5%. In the host country, Russia’s meeting with Cristiano Ronaldo became the most watched sports event in 2017, with 7.73 million viewers, accounting for 6% of Russia’s potential TV audience.
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