Recaps of Thursday's Matches

        Two teams in desperate need of a win faced off in the late afternoon in Saint Petersburg: Cameroon and Australia. Robbie Kruse almost gave the Socceroos the lead when his shot found the target, but Cameroon keeper Fabrice Ondoa snagged it. Overall, both halves had several defensive miscues, as both defenses gave up the ball in the opponent's attacking area, and failed to build up plays from the back. Cameroon's best chance in the first half came at the last minute of play. Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui hit a nice through-ball to Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa. Zambo Anguissa caught Australian keeper Mathew Ryan off his line, and Zambo Anguissa chipped it over Ryan for the goal.
         Seconds after the start of the last half, Australia had a great chance to level. Mathew Leckie played a ball to Tomi Juric, just six yards out. Juric shot it well over the ball. Cameroon had their best missed opportunity occur 10 minutes later when Vincent Aboubakar was wide open in the box and shot it just wide. Benjamin Moukandjo could have tapped the ball in but was afraid he was offside, and let the ball roll by him past the goal line. Australia got their goal via a PK. The play that cost it happened in the 59th when Alex Gersbach got brought down by Ernest Mabouka. Mark Milligan delivered for his side, and both teams missed chances to find the winner, leaving both teams disappointed, and on the edge of elimination.

        Later, Chile and Germany, two of the top 4 soccer teams, played for a place in the semis. Chile scored in the 6th minute when Alexis Sanches intercepted a ball from Shkodran Mustafi. Sanches played a give-and go with Arturo Vidal, then slotted it home off the post. Both teams had several chances (and fouls), but most were wide or right at the keepers. Chile nearly made it 2-0 when the ball fell outside of the box to Eduardo Vargas, whose shot hit the crossbar. Germany made it 1-1 on the counter when Jonas Hector crossed it in to Lars Stindl to tap in in the 41st minute. No one from Chile pressured Emre Can who passed it through to Hector.
       In the second half, Chile's best chances came through Sanches. His free kicks were just wide of goal, on top of the goal, or right at keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Germany failed to create any valuable scoring chances, but defended Sanches well on open play chances. In the end, it was a 1-1 tie, meaning that their last group games mean something.

Sanches' goal made him Chile's all-time leading scorer.