Dortmund: Lionel Scaloni praised his battling Argentina side, missing Lionel Messi, as they scored second-half goals to earn a 2-2 draw in a friendly against an experimental Germany team Wednesday. The Germans flew into a 2-0 lead with first-half goals by Serge Gnabry and Kai Havertz in Dortmund before Lucas Alario turned the game when he came on for Argentina with an hour gone. The Leverkusen striker pulled a goal back, then set up Lucas Ocampos for a deserved late equaliser.

"We matured during the game," said Argentina coach Scaloni. "We made two or three mistakes in the first half, but got a grip in the second half, were more patient and we take a lot of positives for the future. "I was impressed with the attitude, we didn't give up when we went 2-0 down." Germany head coach Joachim Loew admitted his side faded after a bright start. "We wanted to be in the game right from the off, but unfortunately we couldn't hold on for 90 minutes," said Loew.