Germany fight back to hold United States

Germany failed to end their winless streak against the United States but they can take heart after coming from 3-1 down to earn a 3-3 draw against the Olympic champions in Offenbach.

Silvia Neid's side were hoping to end a ten-year wait for a victory against their opponents but for long periods of time it looked like they were on their way to another defeat following their 2-0 reverse in the final of the Algarve Cup last month. Abby Wambach and Megan Rapinoe put the United States 2-0 up, and they restored their two-goal buffer through Alex Morgan after Kim Kulig had pulled one back. However, strikes in the final five minutes from Célia Okoyino da Mbabi and Anja Mittag levelled the scores.

The five-time consecutive European champions looked good in the first half in front of 17,000 spectators at the Stadion am Bieberer Berg, working themselves some good chances, but shortly after the break they were dealt two painful blows. Wambach headed the United States in front within two minutes of the restart before Rapinoe added a second from the edge of the area nine minutes later.

Kulig pulled one back in the 63rd minute but when Morgan restored the two-goal cushion with a lob 20 minutes from time, Germany's spirit seemed to be broken. However, they provided a rousing finale when Okoyino Da Mbabi scored from the penalty spot and substitute Mittag provided the equaliser one minute later.

"I was really pleased with the first half," said Neid. "We put in a great team performance. We were very compact and hardly let them have any chances. The USA showed their class in the second half though." Goalkeeper Nadine Angerer added: "There's great morale in the team. We managed to produce the quality we needed and came back again." 

Germany's next match is against Scotland in Essen on 15 June while the United States travel to The Hague to play Germany's finals opponents the Netherlands on Tuesday.