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Germany coach Joachim Low said he never expected his new-look squad to be "perfect" after they were given a fright by Australia at the Confederations Cup on Monday. The reigning World Cup champions are without the likes of Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller for the tournament in Russia Russia, with Low experimenting to find a team for the future. Lars Stindl and Leon Goretzka both scored their first international goals, though goalkeeper Bernd Leno's two blunders made the game a little close for comfort. And though Germany held on for a 3-2 win, Low said some growing pains were to be expected. "Who would expect it to be perfect?" Low said. "This is a team that never played together so we have done a lot of work over 10 days. "We were losing our thread, our attacks were not as consistent and we weren't single-minded. "We need to work on maintaining our stability... but this is a new team and things have worked very well." Leno demonstrated that he's far from being able to replace 31-year-old Neuer in the German goal, as he was wrong-footed on Australia's first goal and spilled a soft deflection for their second. But Low ultimately backed his keeper despite acknowledging his errors. "He could have held on to that ball but he is a good goalkeeper, no doubt about it," Low said. "Maybe that was a mistake." Much of Germany's threat came from the right flank, where Brandt and Joshua Kimmich were given space to unsettle Australia. "We invested a lot in the first half and ran a lot," Kimmich said. "So in the second half, Australia had a bit more possession but I didn't think they had a lot of opportunities and chances." Still, Julian Draxler, one of the more experienced members in the squad, said the team had plenty to work on before their next game against Chile. "Obviously, we'll have to improve," Draxler said, "but we will do that." Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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