Another impressive performance helped Germany to overcome Argentina 4-0, largely thanks to a dominant first-half display. They have become one of a handful of teams to already seal their spot in the next round.
Argentina, despite their defeat to Mexico, remained unchanged after what was a largely promising performance. Germany, on the other hand, opted to alter their line-up slightly after beating Australia 4-1. Daniel Nesseler replaced Jonas Busam, in a minor defensive alteration.
Germany take the lead early on
The Germans began where they left off, too, and went ahead in the early stages of the game. A lovely passing move gave them the lead, with Felix Passlack's cross going across the entire box to Mats Köhlert. The Hamburger SV man showed great composure to unselfishly roll the ball across goal, into the path of Vitaly Janelt. He made no mistake from 10 yards out, curling home past the Argentine stopper.
Argentina could have leveled almost straight away, with Matias Roskopf making a good run to the by-line before crossing for his strike partner, Tomas Conechny. A combination of Daniel Nesseler and Erdinc Karakas managed to clear the danger, however. Just a matter of moments later, Karakas helped feed through the dangerous Köhlert. He then crossed for Janelt, only for his goalbound shot to be blocked on the line.
Eggestein adds a second, Passlack's penalty makes it three
Köhlert was having a phenomenal game and created another great chance. This time it was Johannes Eggestein that was played through by the Hamburg winner, although Marcos Peano produced a fine one-on-one save. The Argentineans hadn't lost hope and German Berterame nearly scored a stunning equaliser. His 25-yard drive swerved onto the top of the bar with Constantin Frommann just about covering his goal.
Germany upped their tempo after that and were suitably rewarded. Janelt picked up a loose ball in midfield and produced an incredible, defence-splitting pass for Passlack to collect. The Borussia Dortmund starlet then curled in an equally impressive cross for Eggestein, who tucked home his third goal in just two games by slotting past Peano.
Things would get even worse just before the break, as Julian Ferreyra gave away a late first-half penalty. Salih Özcan was the man hacked down by the Argentine defender, who was lucky to not see red for the challenge. Passlack slotted home from the spot, giving his side a deserved half-time lead.
Second half starts slowly
After the interval, the Argentina plan was seemingly to get amongst their opponents more and disrupt the German style of play. That initially worked and Conechny had a good chance to get them back into the game, though the talented forward couldn't find a way past some brave defending.
The fresh legs after a run of early substitutes seemed to give Argentina an edge but it was only temporary. Germany eventually found their feet again and began to pass the ball around with the usual confidence that they possess, as Dzenis Burnic and Niklas Schmidt adding to the passing game.
Schmidt slots home a fourth
It was the latter of that replacement pairing that would notch up Germany's fourth, killing off any hopes of a comeback in the process and making an instant impact himself. Janelt was involved one more, feeding the Werder Bremen attacker through on goal before he passed the ball around the advancing Peano.
That was the only real action of note in the second half, which was largely disjointed and struggled to get going. Germany are assured of a place in the last 16 and they will top the group if they avoid defeat against Mexico. Argentina, on the other hand, have a one-game shoot-out with Australia to try and reach the next round.