Australian captain Craig Moore and Argentine Luciano Figueroa in an aerial duel during their Confederations Cup match in Nuremberg on Saturday. (AFP)

Nuremberg: The two group A favourites reached the Confederations Cup semi-finals in a flurry of goals on Saturday, Germany beating Tunisia 3-0 and Luciano Figueroa netting a hattrick as Argentina beat Australia 4-2 (as reported in Sunday’s Late City edition).

Germany left it late to seal their second successive victory, scoring all three of their goals in the final 16 minutes of a lively match in Cologne.

Argentina, hanging on to a 3-2 lead with 20 minutes to go in Nuremberg, secured their place in the last four when Figueroa completed his hattrick a minute from time.

The results left Germany and Argentina top of the table with six points apiece. Australia and Tunisia have none.

The two heavyweights will battle it out for top spot in the group when they meet in Nuremberg on Tuesday.

Argentina, leading 3-0 by the 53rd minute with two goals from Figueroa and a Juan Roman Riquelme penalty, gave Australia hope when Fabricio Coloccini conceded a penalty which John Aloisi converted in the 61st minute.

Aloisi then capitalised on a terrible mistake from defender Gabriel Heinze to grab his fourth goal of the meet and make it 3-2 with 20 minutes to go.

But Figueroa, promoted to the starting line-up for Argentina’s second game in the competition, tapped the ball in following a Riquelme free-kick one minute from time.

The South Americans took the lead in the 12th with a brilliantly executed goal.

Riquelme exchanged passes with Figueroa outside the box before feeding Mario Santana. His weighted ball found Figueroa 12 metres out and the Villarreal striker blasted past goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

Javier Saviola was pulled down by Lucas Neill 20 minutes later and Riquelme squeezed his penalty beyond Schwarzer.

Argentina kept the ball for the remainder of the half with something close to disdain and the introduction of Mark Viduka to Australia’s attack immediately after the break did little to disturb the South Americans.

Australia’s failure to clear an innocuous header from Juan Pablo Sorin presented Figueroa with a chance to sweep in his second goal eight minutes into the second period.

Coloccini’s foul on Aloisi gave Australia a route back into the game and the big striker was on target again in the 70th thanks to Heinze’s mistake.

The Manchester United defender inexplicably tried to chest a high ball back to ’keeper German Lux rather than clear upfield. The ball fell straight to Aloisi, who gratefully smashed it into the roof of the net from a couple of metres.

Argentina were rattled but substitute Esteban Cambiasso made a couple of important interceptions on the edge of the area and coach Jose Pekerman’s side were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Figueroa completed his hattrick.

Earlier, Germany’s victory should ease the pressure on coach Juergen Klinsmann and his young defence, heavily criticised for their slapdash performance in a 4-3 win over Australia on the tournament’s opening day.

The scoreline was flattering to the hosts, however, with Tunisia unlucky to lose a close match by a three-goal margin.

Germany skipper Michael Ballack broke the deadlock with a 74th penalty after he was tripped by Wissem Abdi.

Six minutes later Bastian Schweinsteiger made it 2-0 when he rounded goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel and squeezed the ball home just inside the far post.

Mike Hanke, who had only been on the field for a minute, made an immediate impact by scoring with two minutes to play. He rose to meet a cross from Sebastian Deisler, saw his powerful header superbly saved by Boumnijel, then reacted first to force home the rebound. (Reuters)