German beat Spain

It was an unfamiliar lineup that Germany coach Joachim Löw fielded against Spain in rainy Vigo. Nominally the match featured the reigning world and European champions, but spectators were treated to Zieler instead of Neuer, Rüdiger instead of Hummels and Volland instead of whomever, if anyone, Löw plans to use as a center forward.

Astonishingly Löw starting 11 featured as many players from Hoffenheim as from Bayern Munich, and only four players from the team that won the World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro last summer. It was a mark that, for both sides, this match was about testing out youngsters' potential and not getting a result at all costs.

With that in mind, Löw will be pleased with what he saw. Aside from a dangerous curling shot by Manuel "Nolito" Agudo, Germany did not allow their hosts many chances.

On the contrary, the Nationalelf generated the best chance when Thomas Müller slid a ball through for Mario Götze, who immediately fired off a shot. Veteran Spanish keeper Iker Casillas parried.

Müller was then substituted out with a bruised back, but substitute Karim Bellarabi proved an adequate replacement. Still, the first half ended goalless.

Kroos gets a late game winner

Germany came out more attack-minded after the break, pushing forward with defenders Antonio Rüdiger and Benedikt Höwedes, but couldn't find a way past Casillas. On the other side Nolito remained a constant threat, but third-string keeper Ron-Robert Zieler was up to the challenge.

As the game wore on, and the pitch grew ever soggier, a goalless draw looked more and more inevitable. Löw refrained from multiple substitutions, while Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque rotated six times, including substituting out Casillas for the nearly identically named Francisco Casilla.

And Casilla cut an unfortunate figure one minute from time as a hard, low, wet shot by Toni Kroos skipped over his hands into the net.

"We wanted to end the year with a good game," match-winner Kroos said after the final whistle. "We didn't concede many chances, and we created a few opportunities for ourselves."

Pedro Rodriguez had a chance to level things in extra time, but Zieler alertly diverted his attempted lob.

Löw will happy with a 1-0 win that rounds off a dream year for the German national team and that represented a fine performance for a makeshift young German squad.