Late goals give Germany 3-0 win over Tunisia

Germany scored three times in the last 16 minutes to secure a flattering 3-0 win over Tunisia in a lively Confederations Cup match yesterday.

The Group A victory should ease the pressure on coach Juergen Klinsmann and his young defence, heavily criticised recently after conceding a flurry of goals.

But Germany's overall performance was flawed and Tunisia were unlucky to lose a close match by a three-goal margin.

With the game seemingly heading for a goalless draw, Germany skipper Michael Ballack broke the deadlock with a 74th minute penalty after he was tripped in the box. Six minutes later Bastian Schweinsteiger made it 2-0 when he rounded goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel and squeezed the ball home just inside the far post.

Mike Hanke, who had only been on the field for one minute, made an immediate impact by scoring a superb goal to make it 3-0.

He rose to meet a perfect cross from Sebastian Deisler, saw his powerful header superbly saved by Boumnijel, then reacted first to force home the rebound and score his first goal for Germany on only his second appearance.

Tunisia, though, looked the more cohesive team and with better finishing could have been ahead themselves by the time Germany scored.

The win was Germany's second in the tournament after their opening 4-3 victory against Australia and extended their record of not losing in Cologne to 18 matches since 1935.

The African champions went closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half, with Clayton almost scoring direct from a corner after 26 minutes.

His fiercely-struck left-footed inswinger appeared to be going straight into the net after flying over the head of Thomas Hitzlsperger at the near post. However, goalkeeper Jens Lehmann somehow managed to get an arm to the ball and kept it out, although he ended up tangled in the back of the netting.

Germany thought they had broken through after 41 minutes when Podolski beat Boumnijel from close range, but he had drifted marginally offside and the goal did not count.

Jamaican referee Peter Prendergast frequently broke up the flow of the game with some pedantic decisions.

Both teams had chances to score in the second half with Adel Chedli guilty of wasting Tunisia's best chance, shooting weakly at Lehmann after 56 minutes.

Gerald Asamoah had a nightmare up front for Germany, who began to play better in attack after he was replaced by Kevin Kuranyi with an hour gone.

Last night, Luciano Figueroa scored a hat-trick to lead Argentina through to the semi-finals with a scrambled 4-2 win over Australia.

Argentina, leading 3-0 by the 53rd minute with two goals from Figueroa and a Juan Roman Riquelme penalty, gave Australia hope when Fabricio Coloccini conceded a penalty that John Aloisi converted in the 61st minute.

Aloisi then capitalised on a terrible mistake from defender Gabriel Heinze to grab his fourth goal of the tournament and make it 3-2 with 20 minutes to go.

Argentina had a few nervous moments but secured the win when Figueroa swept in to convert a free-kick taken from the right a minute from time.

Victory was enough to send Argentina and Germany through to the last four with six points apiece.