MOSCOW, June 26: Germany defeated Cameroon 3-1 to reach the Confederations Cup semifinals, while Chile secured their place in the semifinals with a 1-1 draw against Australia on Sunday.
Kerem Demirbay gave Germany the lead early in the second half after the two teams played out a dire opening 45 minutes.
Ernest Mabouka was sent off for a high boot after 64 minutes, and Timo Werner doubled the lead shortly after. Vincent Aboubakar gave Cameroon fans something to cheer about, but Werner restored the two-goal advantage.
Fans tuning in to watch a high-quality match filled with attacking football were left disappointed early. Germany only needed a draw to advance and didn�t come out with much intensity, while Cameroon tried to threaten on the counter but made few moves into the box.
The first real effort on goal didn�t come until 21 minutes into the match, with Julian Draxler isolating Emre Can, but the Liverpool man fired wide.
Joshua Kimmich missed the target with a diving header, and Sebastian Rudy pulled a shot over, while Cameroon failed to test Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Demirbay tried his luck with an ambitious effort that went wide, and Andre Zambo Anguissa finally gave Ter Stegen something to do just before half-time, but neither goalkeeper was really troubled during the first half.
Demirbay started the second half by placing a strike over the bar, though he had more luck a few minutes later, blasting a fine shot into the top corner.
The goal seemed to relax the Germans a bit, and Draxler had a great chance to double the lead shortly after but shot wide. Fabrice Ondoa denied Kimmich with a fine save, and Ter Stegen followed suit on a shot by Aboubakar.
Moumi Ngamaleu missed Cameroon�s best chance, curling a shot agonisingly wide of the post, but any chance the Lions had of equalising evaporated when Mabouka was sent off for a high boot on Can. Video replay was needed to confirm which player had to be sent off, with the official twice getting it wrong. � Agencies
