Bayern cruises to victory over Augsburg in German Cup

Bayern's David Alaba, center, celebrates with team mate Arturo Vidal, left, and Thiago after scoring his side's third goal during the German Soccer Cup match between FC Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg at Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. (Matthias Schrader/AP)

FRANKFURT — United States international Julian Green scored in his first official start as title holder Bayern Munich eased to a 3-1 win over Augsburg to reach the third round of the German Cup on Wednesday.

Green’s first goal in a competition match for Bayern came in the 42nd minute with a header off a cross by Thomas Mueller.

The 21-year-old American winger played in the previous German Cup round, coming off the bench in a 5-0 win over Carl-Zeiss Jena. Green has been in coach Carlo Ancelotti’s squad several times this season but this was his first start.

Green became the youngest American to score a World Cup goal in a loss to Belgium at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. His club career at Bayern stalled, however. He made a Champions League appearance in 2013, before being sent to Hamburger SV on loan. He rarely played there and returned to Bayern. He made another Champions League appearance at Dinamo Zagreb last season but did not see any Bundesliga action.

However, Green made headlines by scoring a hat trick against Inter Milan in a pre-season tour of the United States, then scored in back-to-back matches for the United States against Cuba and New Zealand.

Ancelotti left many of his regulars on the bench against Augsburg and Green got his chance.

Another player made a comeback with defender Holger Badstuber coming off the bench late in the match. Badstuber had not played since an ankle injury in February.

Bayern, an 18-time German Cup winner, went ahead through Philipp Lahm in the second minute and David Alaba completed the victory in injury time.

Ji Dong-won had cut Augusburg’s deficit with fine angled shot above Manuel Neuer’s arms into the roof of the net in the 69th.

Both teams missed penalties, with Mueller shooting high for Bayern and Neuer saving the spot-kick taken by Koo Ja-cheol.

Also Wednesday, Mainz and Darmstadt joined the exodus of Bundesliga teams from the German Cup, losing to lower-tier opposition in the second round.

Darmstadt lost at fourth-tier Astoria Walldorf 1-0, while Mainz went down 2-1 at second-division Greuther Fuerth.

Germany striker Mario Gomez scored a second-half winner as Wolfsburg edged second-division Heidenheim 1-0 for interim coach Valerien Ismael’s first win.

Hannover thrashed Fortuna Duesseldorf 6-1 after scoring five goals inside the first 34 minutes of the match between two second-division teams.

Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg, two other Bundesliga teams, were eliminated on Tuesday.

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