Werder Bremen players Mesut Özil, Marko Marin and Per Mertesacker were victorious as Germany beat South Africa 2-0 in their international friendly in Leverkusen. Özil played his third match for Germany's senior side and made his first international start while Marin was subbed in at half-time. Defender Per Mertesacker, however, did not play in the match. Mario Gomez gave Germany the lead 1-0 after about half an hour. And Özil capped a strong performance by making it 2-0 in the 77th minute in front of 29,000 spectators for his first goal for the senior German side, giving them a 2-0 victory over the 2010 World Cup hosts.