Germany drew 2-2 with Argentina after being put 2-0 up by Serge Gnabry and Kai Havertz. Lucas Alario and Lucas Ocampos' second-half goals helped Albiceleste achieve a good result after a poor first half.
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Full-time: It finishes Germany 2-2 Argentina! That was exciting! Germany was easily the best team in the first half and used the momentum to go into the break 2-0 with goals from Serge Gnabry and Kai Havertz. Lionel Scaloni made two substitutions at the start of the second half and his substitutions sparked the turnaround for Albiceleste with Lucas Alario and Lucas Ocampos scoring the goals to pull Argentina level.
Into two minutes of stoppage time
85' GOAL for Argentina! Another substitute, this time it's Lucas Ocampos, who weaves his magic for Argentina, drawing it level 2-2 with Germany. Leandro Paredes picks out Lucas Ocampos after driving into the 18-yard box, and Ocampos' effort takes a touch of Emre Can before finding the back of the net.
82' CHANCE! Marcos Acuna is the creator again. He whips in a cross from the left and the ball deflects in off the man at the front post onto the path of Lucas Alario, who pulls the trigger but it's blocked nicely by Niklas Sule.
78' Argentina has grown into the match in the second half! Lucas Alario receives the ball and produces a snapshot from inside the box, but his shot drifts wide of Marc-Andre ter Stegen's right post.
Substitution for Germany: Suat Serdar comes on for Serge Gnabry as Joachim Low starts the ring the changes with one eye on the upcoming Euro qualifier against Estonia.
Substitution for Germany: Julian Brandt comes off, Nadiem Amiri is on for his senior Germany debut.
66' GOAL for Argentina! Lucas Alario with an excellent headed goal to halve the deficit for La Albiceleste. Marcos Acuna's cross was just as good as the header, picking out Alario perfectly. And, from the penalty spot, Alario uses his neck muscles to power the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Wonderful goal... and it came out of nowhere! Two of Lionel Scaloni's substitutes combine to get Argentina on the board.
Substitution: Paulo Dybala's night is over, he's replaced by Lucas Alario.
60' We enter the last 30 minutes of the match that has lost a bit of the pace of the first half. Germany is willing to sit back and allow Argentina time on the ball, and Argentina has so far not created any substantial chance in the second half.
55' SAVED! Augustin Marchesin saves with his right leg to keep out Emre Can and keep Argentina in the contest somewhat. Paulo Dybala delivers the corner and it's again cleared comfortably in the German box. Julian Brandt emerges with the ball and picks out Kai Havertz racing down the right flank. It's a 3v3 situation for Germany and Havertz finds Can, who goes with his laces, trying to slot the ball past the goalkeeper, and Marchesin had to save with his right leg.
51' Marcos Acuna wins a corner for Argentina. Leandro Paredes delivers it, and it's too deep for any of the Argentina players to attempt a header towards goal. Robin Koch with a clearing header to avert any goal threat for Germany.
Two changes for Argentina at the start of the second half: Marcos Acuna replaces Marcos Rojo, and Lucas Ocampos comes in in place of Angel Correa.
Second half
Half-time: Germany has comfortably been the better side in the first half, and its two-goal lead is a fair reflection of the chances it's created. Serge Gnabry has undoubtedly been the standout player, with Julian Brandt almost as efficient going forward. Argentina's defence, though, has been poor and is to blame for the team being two goals down.
45' CHANCE! Serge Gnabry finds himself on the end of a superb ball played in behind the Argentina's defence by captain Joshua Kimmich after a foul by Lautaro Martinez near the halfway line. Gnabry takes a touch and gets himself into acres of space, but the angle was against him as he tried to slot the ball inside the far post from the right-hand side of the goal.
40' Lautaro Martinez wins a free-kick in the Germany half near the corner flag. Leandro Paredes takes the free-kick, spots Rodrigo De Paul on the edge of the box and picks him out with a low cross. De Paul goes for a first-time shot, but it was a poor connection and it sends the ball flying into the stand behind the goal.
33' WOODWORK! Rodrigo De Paul lets fly a rising shot on the run from 20-plus yards out as the German midfield stood off him, allowing him space and time. Marc Andre ter Stegen has no chance of getting his hands to the ball, and it pings off the right upright. UNLUCKY! That was the first real moment when Argentina got a meaningful attack going, a bit of complacency from Germany too.
31' Yellow card for Rodrigo De Paul! Catches hold of Serge Gnabry's hand and while he was successful in disallowing the Bayern Munich forward from surging forward and causing more havoc, he couldn't escape being shown the yellow card.
26' Yellow card for Nicolas Otamendi! Lazy defending from the Manchester City defender, who sticks out his right leg as Julian Brandt played a pass and tried to surge forward. It's a cynical foul, and it gifts Germany a free-kick from 25 yards out. (Nothing comes of it, fortunately for Argentina!)
22' GOAL for Germany! 2-0 up! Serge Gnabry turns provider and plays a delicious cross across the face of goal, and all Kai Havertz had to do was side-foot it home, which he does with little fuss. The build-up to the goal began with Marcos Rojo giving the ball away near the halfway line. Lukas Klostermann nicks the ball off Rojo and it's played to Serge Gnabry, who goes racing down the right flank before playing a perfectly-weighted cross for Havertz to score.
16' GOAL for Germany! It was coming, you can say! Serge Gnabry bundles the ball home after it bounced back onto his path following a challenge from Marcos Rojo, who was trying to defend a low cross from right-back Lukas Klostermann. Under pressure from Nicolas Tagliafico, Gnabry gets decent contact and the ball ends up in the back of the net.
11' Yellow card for Joshua Kimmich! Leandro Paredes draws a challenge from the Germany captain while trying to play a simple pass, Kimmich is a bit rash and Paredes is in pain. The referee had no hesitating in flashing the yellow card.
7' Serge Gnabry is a bundle of energy in the early minutes of the first half. He receives a long ball on the right flank with the Argentina full-backs high up the field, he drives forward and looks to manoeuvre past Nicolas Otamendi from the right-hand side of the goal, but can't keep hold the ball, which runs out of play for a goal-kick. That was a moment of concern for Argentina.
5' Germany enjoys a good spell of possession. Argentina was pinned in. A loose ball is picked up by Serge Gnabry and it's worked to Kai Havertz on the right flank. Havertz puts in a good cross, but Augustin Marchesin, the Argentina goalkeeper, collects the air-borne ball with little fuss.
1' Here we go! Argentina kicks off, playing from left to right. Sit back and enjoy what should be an absorbing contest.
The national anthems are complete, a minute's silence has been observed after two people were killed in Halle earlier today, and we are ready for kick-off!
Paulo Dybala will be the focal point of Argentina's attack in Lionel Messi's absence. He scored in Juventus' 2-1 win over Inter Milan on Sunday and has alluded to enjoying life under Maurizio Sarri.
Speaking after Juve's win, the forward said, "I have not experienced an easy summer. Obviously hearing your name with every team you don't want to go to is not a nice thing, but this is football. Before the market started I had already done an interview in which I said I wanted to stay in Turin, then I never spoke again, not even at the Copa America. I think it's more important to talk on the field, with facts. You never know how the market goes until the last day, but I wanted to stay here, I wanted to continue my career at Juventus. I think I can still give so much to this shirt and I'm very happy with what I showed against Inter."
Even without Lionel Messi and the other stars in the line-up, Argentina's starting XI is formidable and is not short on experience either. Joachim Low has stacked Germany's starting XI with plenty of young players, and it'll be interesting to see how they cope with the Argentinians.
The line-ups are out!
Germany starting XI: Marc-Andre ter Stegen (GK), Joshua Kimmich (c), Marcel Halstenberg, Lukas Klostermann, Robin Koch, Niklas Sule, Kai Havertz, Julian Brandt, Emre Can, Luca Waldschmidt, Serge Gnabry
( Germany substitutes: Manuel Neuer, Bernd Leno, Serdar, Marco Reus, Nadiem Amiri, Sebastian Rudy, Ilkay Gundogan)
Argentina starting XI: Augustin Marchesin, Juan Foyth, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, Nicolas Tagliafico, Leandro Paredes, Roberto Pereyra, Rodrigo de Paul, Angel Correa, Paulo Dybala, Lautaro Martinez
( Argentina substitutes: Musso, Martinez, Saravia, Pezzella, Kannemann, Acuna, Eric Lamela, Dominguez, Rodriguez, Ocampos, Vargas, Alario)
We are just over an hour away from kick-off at the Westfalenstadion, where Germany meets Argentina in a match-up that's happening after five years. Die Mannschaft did beat Argentina to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which was followed by the Argentinians winning an international friendly 4-2 the same year. These teams haven't faced off since then.
Two giants of world football, Germany and Argentina haven't been producing great results in the recent past and will take the field without some of their big names. That is, however, unlikely to prevent it from being an entertaining match!
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