Even if they send a "B" team to Russia this year they would be a threat to win. But having said that, if I was German, my enthusiasm for attending the tournament in-person would drop significantly if I found out that the B/C team would be playing there. So I can see what the ticket sales blow in Germany.
Honestly I agree with what Germany is doing and that Portugal should do the same, rest the players..for many of them (especially the ones who played in the u21 final in 2015) this would be the third consecutive summer without a break.... Rest them all ffs.
I think they will care if a tournament they expect to have the likes of Ronaldo and Muller and they end up getting a bunch of U23 players. They may catch some flack from sponsors/ Television exectuives which by the way put money in their aforementioned pockets.
Germany can look at their trophy cabinet and think, "Yeah, we don't need this Confed Cup." Portugal (and Chile), OTOH? Not so much. And I don't think CR7's ego would let him pass up the chance to nab 2 NT trophies while Messi's still empty-handed...
New Zealand has scheduled friendly matches against Northern Ireland, An Irish club team in Dublin and Belarus to prepare for Russia, Mexico and Portugal. (Oh boy.)
Northern Ireland is second in their WCQ group with tied for the seventh best goal differential of the 54 UEFA countries in qualifying.
You implied New Zealand chose three easy games to prepare for the Confederations Cup. The game against Northern Ireland isn't so easy.
I don't believe the teams they chose are good preparation for the various styles of play and quality they will face in Russia. Nothing against Northern Ireland but the stats you bring up don't really show their quality. Just that they have faced some pretty bad teams in their Qualifying Group. I do think they are radiatively playing decently though.
They chose among those willing to play against them. Given New Zeland's position in the FIFA ranking, playing friendly matches against them, for any high ranked team (above top 50), even if they win against New Zeland, at the end, that team is going to lose points in the ranking table. Just for facts, New Zeland was pretty lucky to get the Northen Ireland team, currently ranked 26, as opponent, which was probably the best team in Europe, that they could actually get . You got to give credit to North Ireland, in not giving much importance to their own ranking position, as through that match, whichever result they get, they are destined to fall a few positions, due to it. Although it wouldn't be unlikely that one or both teams make more than 7 substitutions during the match, as doing so, it invalidates the result of the match for the FIFA rankings, and the match is considered as if it was never played. (if I were a northen leprechaun, that's preciselly what I would do ). Besides, the other issue not least important, is that no team really risks in having their own players mood completely disturbed, with only a few weeks before an important tournament takes place, where they are going to participate, as it is widely known, that if your team gets trashed in those previous matches, afterwards when the tournament begins, the performance of those players gets affected, and likewise, don't play after trying to get a good result, but instead are more worried on not getting trashed again, reasons why they don't usually perform up to their best during the competition which matters for them.
More ticket news: http://tass.com/sport/944220 The positive spin is that they are selling tickets at a better rate than South Africa.
I wonder when we are actually going to get them. I bought my ticket for the final months ago, but it still hasn't come through yet. They said "sometime in May" when I wrote to them. Would be useful to get as would probably help me get my Russian visa...
Field conditions issue at one of the main stadiums: http://www.espnfc.com/fifa-confeder...s-pitch-for-confederations-cup-unfit-for-play
Interesting interview with Russian manager: https://www.rt.com/sport/388133-stanislav-cherchesov-coach-interview/