Back to the Soccer Newsfeed

Germany hold off Confederations Cup challenge from Australia

Lars Stindl and Leon Goretzka scored their first international goals to help Germany beat Australia 3-2 in their Confederations Cup opener on Monday.

It took less than five minutes for Germany to take the lead as Stindl scored after Julian Brandt cut the ball back to him in the centre of the box.

Australia hit back, though, as Tom Rogic briefly equalized in the 41st minute. The Socceroos striker's initial attempt was blocked by Shkodran Mustafi, but the ball came back to Rogic to score before goalkeeper Bernd Leno could recover.

Germany were able to restore their lead before half-time, however, as Massimo Luongo fouled Goretzka in the box, and Julian Draxler put away the resulting penalty.