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Australia hold Germany to 2-2 in soccer friendly

Xinhua, March 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

FIFA World Cup champions Germany were held to a 2-2 draw by Australia at their first international friendly of 2015 in Kaiserslautern, Germany on Wednesday night.

Germany failed to recapture their World Cup form, as they craved out a late 2-2 draw against Australia on home soil. The Germans were able to open the scoring through Marco Reus before Australia scored twice to grab the lead thanks to James Troisi and Mile Jedinak. Nevertheless, Lukas Podolski's equalizer avoided a surprising loss against Asian Cup winners Australia.

Germany coach Joachim Loew made a couple of changes in his first eleven, as he wanted to test new strategies and players who returned from long term injuries. This was noticeable as Germany staged an instable defense throughout the game. As a consequence, the visitors from Australia needed only three minutes to create a promising chance when Matthew Leckie headed just wide of the target.

Australia's chance was a wakening call for the hosts, who turned up to execute in front of the visitors goal but neither Marco Reus nor Ilkay Guendogan were able to break the deadlock moments later.

The Socceroos remained unimpressed and continued to pose danger for Germany's defense. However, it were the hosts who opened the scoring with 17 minutes into the game when Marco Reus tapped in Sami Khedira's assist.

The resilient visitors kept it bowling and punished wasteful Germany with the 1-1 leveler as James Troisi headed home Nathan Burns' cross into the box in the 40th minute.

Things turned from bad to worse for the hosts after the break as Mile Jedinak gave Australia the surprising 2-1 lead five minutes after the restart. Jedinak scored with a free kick by curling the ball over the wall into the top left corner. Troisi had even the chance to double Australia's lead but the midfielder squandered by pulling wide.

In the closing period Germany recovered and started to gain momentum. Thus, Lukas Podolski snatched the late equalizer in the 81st minute when he tapped in Andre Schuerrle's square pass.

"It was a hectic game for us. We started well into the game but failed to extend the lead. After the restart we were unable to gain a foothold into the game,' Germany coach Joachim Loew said.

Germany will encounter Georgia for the Euro 2016 qualifier on Sunday. Endi