Germany are the kings of the penalty shootout, but the world champions hope to see off Mexico in Thursday’s Confederations Cup semifinal without needing dreaded spot-kicks. The Germans have won all five penalty shootouts they have been involved in since 1976 at either World Cup finals or European championships. Joachim Loew’s team face the Mexicans in Sochi for a place in Sunday’s Confederations Cup final in St Petersburg against either Portugal or Chile. Having won their Confederations Cup group, Germany are on a 13-match unbeaten run, dating back just under a year to their Euro 2016 semifinal defeat to hosts France. Leftback Jonas Hector said Germany’s young guns had not yet practised spot-kicks and hoped to beat Mexico over the 90 minutes. "We would like to avoid this situation [penalties]," admitted Hector. "We haven’t specifically trained for it and we’ll take it as it comes." Nevertheless, the Germans seem to have penalty-taking in their blood. Their under-21 team beat England...
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