It had brought together the two teams ranking highest in FIFA’s standings with Germany rated third, one place ahead of Chile.

When they had met in their group fixture that finished 1-1 it was Chile that had started well, taking an early lead with Germany gradually coming back into the game.

Roared on by a loud and passionate crowd, Chile again started brightly with Alexis Sanchez taking a shot from distance and then Mark-André Ter Stegen having to make a smart save after good work between Arturo Vidal and Charles Aranguiz.

Twice the South Americans had a chance to open up the German defence before, in the 13th minute a mistake by Leon Goretzka let in Eduardo Vargas but his shot was straight into the arms of Ter Stegen.

It took quarter of an hour before Germany could reply with an attempt of their own. Shkodran Mustafi was the only change that either side made from their semi-final line-ups and it was his header from Lars Stindl’s corner that went well wide of Claudio Bravo’s left upright.

Chile’s pressure should have led to them going ahead in the 20th minute. Sanchez’s effort could only be parried by Ter Stegen straight to Vidal who miscued his shot badly.

Seconds later it was Germany that took the lead. Marcelo Diaz lost control just outside the penalty box when put under pressure by Timo Werner who took the ball off Chile’s number 11 before squaring it back to Lars Stindl who had time to look over his shoulder before placing the ball into the empty net. It was Stindl’s third goal of the tournament and he joined his team mates Werner and Goretzka as leading scorer for the competition.

Vidal was involved in most of the positive moves that Chile were putting together but, in the 32nd minute, he should have done better. He took a shot from distance that went well wide when Sanchez had found useful space in the box and was pleading for the right delivery. Vidal showed his annoyance at his own lack of vision and was appearing to become frustrated.

Germany then had a series of chances within a few minutes with their pace on the break causing Chile all sorts of problems.

In the 36th minute Sebastian Rudy played a lovely ball through to Goretzka who took the shot in his stride that went just wide of the far post. Two minutes later and he became provider when Germany broke at pace again. This time Werner’s control wasn’t tight enough and Chile’s outnumbered defence was able to clear the danger.

Werner almost made amends minutes later when he fed Julian Draxler who’s shot from the edge of the penalty area was fired just wide of the near post.

The pair combined again in the last minute of the half and Werner should have been able to shoot past the advancing Bravo who made an excellent save to keep Die Mannschaft to only a one goal advantage at half-time.

Germany was showing the sort of form that had defeated Mexico 4-1 in the semi-final - fast, clinical forward play backed up by a resolute strong defence.

After a quiet start to the second half, Draxler almost gave his side the lead. He broke into the penalty area and his shot took a deflection on it’s way to passing just wide of Bravo’s far post.