Colombia strike late to stun Germany

Manuela Vanegas headed a stoppage-time winner to give Colombia a 2-1 upset victory over Germany just when the twice world champions thought they had saved a point in a thrilling Women's World Cup clash at Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday.

The defender powered the ball home from a corner eight minutes after German striker Alexandra Popp had converted a penalty to cancel out a stunning strike from Colombian teenager Linda Caicedo.

Caicedo, who gave her team a fright by collapsing in training on Thursday, had delighted the massed ranks of her compatriots in the 40,499 crowd with a goal of the highest quality in the 52nd minute.

Showing no sign of the nerves that her coach said were behind her collapse on Thursday, the 18-year-old gathered the ball on the left edge of the box, cut back between two defenders and curled it into the top right-hand corner.

The stadium exploded with noise as the diminutive teenager celebrated her second goal at the tournament, having become the youngest player to score in this World Cup with a similar effort in the 2-0 opening win over South Korea.

Germany continued to spurn what chances they created but, with two minutes left on the clock, Oberdorf was brought down in the box by Perez and Popp stepped up to thump the ball confidently into the net.

The 27th-ranked Colombians now need only a draw against Morocco in their final Group H match to be certain of reaching the last 16, while Germany are still likely to progress if they beat South Korea in their last fixture.