World champions Germany were given a major fright by Ange Postecoglou’s Australia on Wednesday evening, with only a late Lukas Podolski strike rescuing a 2-2 draw for the hosts in Kaiserslautern.

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Joachim Low’s side had taken an early lead in the encounter with Marco Reus showing his predatory instincts to get on the end of a fine run and pass from teammate Sami Khedira.

Australia equalised moments before the interval through a James Troisi header before turning the tie on its head soon after the break through a Mile Jedinak free-kick.

The 2015 AFC Asian Cup winners looked good for victory for much of the second period, defending well as Germany pushed for an equaliser.

However, with just 10 minutes left on the clock, Andre Schurrle’s cutback found Podolski in the penalty area and the Inter Milan forward made no mistake to clinch a draw for his side.

Elsewhere, Scotland battled to a 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland in a tense affair at Hampden Park thanks to a late Christophe Berra header.

Northern Ireland owed much to the performance of Michael McGovern who made a series of fine early saves to maintain parity at 0-0, denying Scotland’s Steven Fletcher with a particularly memorable stop.

McGovern, though, could do nothing to deny Berra who rose highest to head home a Matt Richie corner with just five minutes of the tie remaining.

A Nicklas Bendtner hat-trick was enough for Denmark to seal a thrilling 3-2 victory over the United States at NRGi Park in Aarhus.

Jozy Altidore had given the visitors an early lead only to see Bendtner cancel out his effort on the half-hour mark from a Lasse Vibe assist.

Aron Johannsson restored the US lead twenty minutes into the second half but Bendtner’s defining contributions were still to come.

With seven minutes remaining, the Wolfsburg forward struck from close range after a defensive scramble before adding his third in the dying moments of the match with a fine control and strike from a long diagonal pass from Christian Eriksen.

However, the evening’s biggest shock came from Uyo, Nigeria, where Stephen Keshi’s Super Eagles fell to a 1-0 defeat against Uganda with Farouq Miya the goalscorer.