A confident display by Germany's under-17s saw them get the better of their Australian counterparts, with Salih Özcan having a hand in all four goals.

Both sides began with their expected starting line-ups, as Tony Vidmar and Christian Wück set about earning three points at the first time of asking.

It was a struggle for either team to get a foothold early on in the match, in what resembled a basketball game. Germany were looking more dangerous when going forward, and had a goal chalked out for offside in the opening 10 minutes.

Passlack opens the scoring

Felix Passlack was denied on that occasion, but nothing was stopping him moments later. A brilliant, driving run from Salih Özcan opened up huge gaps in the Australian midfield and defence. He had the vision to flick through to Passlack, who thundered home from 12 yards out. Duro Dragicevic did his best to close down the angle though the shot was past him before he could react.

The game was moving along without any chances or incidents of note, and then turned on its head in a matter of seconds. First, Constantin Frommann made a remarkable recovery to take the ball from Pierce Waring's toes.

Eggestein adds to the Aussie woes

Germany broke down the other end and after more good work from Özcan, Johannes Eggestein headed home at the second time of asking. What could have been a level game was so quickly creeping out of Australia's reach.

Wück's men were not letting up and set about grabbing a third goal. Passlack couldn't sort his feet out and wasted Mats Köhlert's excellent run and cross before Eggestein dragged a shot well wide from the edge of the area. 

Eggestein grabs his second

They had threatened to add to their tally and did just that before the break. Another wonderful moving involving their key men - Passlack, Özcan and Eggestein - resulted in the latter notching up his brace. Passlack fed the ball into Özcan's feet, as the attacking midfielder nutmegged one defender to set Eggestein through on goal. He kept cool and fired into the roof of the net from 12 yards.

Australia had a decent effort on goal to open the second half's proceedings. A free-kick from 25 yards was whipped goalward by Jake Brimmer, only for Frommann to tip it away for a corner. Vidmar's side were generally more positive in the opening ten minutes, and got their reward.

Australia find a way back into the game

A long ball forward from Perry Fotakopoulos wasn't dealt with at all well by the German defence, and was flicked backwards into Waring's path. He zipped past Gökhan Gül and chipped the stranded Frommann, giving Australia a route back into the game.

Fotakopoulos then had a powerful shot of his own tipped over acrobatically by the German stopper, in what was an exciting spell for the Joeys.

Janelt crushes any hopes of a fightback

Just when it looked like a second Australian goal was on the cards, Vitlay Janelt produced a quite stunning strike to silence the crowd. Özcan played the ball into his path, before Janelt rifled the ball into the top corner from 20 yards.

Dzenis Burnic came off the bench for Germany and went close to adding a spectacular fifth, although the Borussia Dortmund man couldn't apply the finish to match his mazy run. The Germans, despite being comfortably ahead, were still trying to add more and Eggestein's header almost secured him a hat-trick.

Brimmer went close twice late on with free-kicks on the edge of the area, but it mattered little as Germany ran out winners. They sit top of Group C ahead of Argentina and Mexico, who play later on in the day. Australia will need to perform as they did in the opening exchanges of the second half to stand a chance of making it out of their group stages, in what was a day to forget.

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About the author
Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]