Cameroon's hopes of reaching to the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in Russia were dented by a 1-1 stalemate with Australia on Thursday night. This was the first ever match between these both teams. Elsewhere, in Group B, Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez became Chile's all time goalscorer with his thirty-eighth international goal in Thursday's draw with Germany. Here's a quick summary of Thursday's Group B matches and how they actually went down.
Cameroon 1, Australia 1
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon responded on the seventh minute. Benjamin Moukandjo served striker Vincent Aboubakar from close range and the latter slammed a low shot that went slightly wide.
Afterwards Cameroon took the lead minutes to the end of first-half when Andre-Frank Anguissa netted his first international goal. Australia started the second half looking for an equalizer and were apparently close on the forty-seventh minute. Mathew Leckie found striker Tomi Juric inside the penalty box and the attacker lifted the ball over the crossbar.
Later in the sixtieth minute, Australia's skipper Mark Milligan equalized from the penalty spot after Alex Gersbach was apparently brought down inside the penalty box. Minutes into the stoppage time the Cameroonians had several promising chances but failed to regain the lead and the match ended 1-1 at full-time. With this draw, Cameroon stay put at the cellar of Group B with one point, while Australia remains third on one point
Germany 1, Chile 1
Just six minutes to the start of the encounter the Chileans opened the scoring.
Alexis Sanchez capitalized on a misplaced pass by Arsenal teammate Shkodran Mustafi and hurriedly played a slick one-two pass with Arturo Vidal and stabbed a left footed finish from close range to put Chile ahead. Sanchez's goal was his thirty-eighth for Chile in 113 appearances as he overtook the previous record held by Marcelo Salas.
At the other end, Germany forward Lars Stindi forced a sharp save from Chile goalkeeper Johnny Herrera with low shot. However, the Chileans came within inches of scoring the game's second goal in the first half.
Four minutes before half time, Germany leveled up the scoreline when Emre Can's through ball found Jonas Hector, whose fine cross from the left wing allowed Lars Stindi to slide in and finish from close range.
With this result Chile remain top of Group B, ahead of Germany on goal difference. The both teams will progress to the semifinals if they avoid defeat in their final matches on Sunday, Germany facing Cameroon and Chile up against Australia.