Australia v Germany - Friendly - Mar 29 [R]

Isn't it amazing when the "big" European teams (England, Holland & Germany) get beaten by a mangy Aussie side, how the European "fans" come out and have to cover their embarrassment by calling the game "just a meaningless friendly". I rarely see the same comment when they beat the said-same Aussie team.

 

But Andy, it was just a friendly.

 

But a good win too. That's what get's up their noses.

 

I know I am gonna get the heat for this one but probably their efforts fall short when compared to:

Really Lucas? 2-1 friendly win is the response to a 4-0 WC loss? not just a response, a "perfect" response!

*runs and takes cover*

 

P.S. Good win, I knew there was a reason why we let you in Asia

 

It's not likely Australia is going to be beating Germany 4-0 in a WC in the next couple of years. A win away from home is the best possible revenge we could get.

 

Australia will always play well against European teams because that is where the majority of them are based.

It's also what we prefer to play against.

 

Why even bother?

 

I see what you mean, however I still think there might have been a better way of putting it. It came across as "yeah we got back at you with this win". A bit like beating the British at a one day test and saying that's the response for the ashes since the win was the best possible results!

 

But everyone else mentioning Pim after the win makes it out as very comparable.

In all reality, Germany tried to walk through the game. And with our performance in the first half, it was working, so they didn't try to step it up in the second half. We caught them out and they struggled to turn it on in their panic. If Germany had come out and played against us, we would've received a very similar flogging to last time. We weren't nearly as great as most are making out. (Though, despite that, Carney's goal was very good.)

That said, I'm very happy with the win, but it didn't fill me with much satisfaction through the day.

... Though, I will say I enjoyed reading Kicker and seeing them say we beat their "second guard."

 

Sure it was just a Friendly. With players like Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose, Arne Friedrich on the pitch, it isn't exactly their 'second guard. But winning or losing isn't the real issue, because Friendly’s are testing grounds.

I have always been frustrated with Australia's style of play, but it seems there might be a small amount of improvement coming one day. It has always reminded me of watching a juniors match with everyone screaming "pass it!!"

Just comparing the styles... the German's passages of play (with 15 one-touch passes in 15 seconds) to Australia's style of hoping for the "one-off killer ball to get through" is still frustrating to watch in 2011. But they seem to be improving a little on that score. I hope so.

 

Congratulations what a wonderful result. Doesn't matter what people are saying, the germans had a 11 very quality players on the pitch and to go there and get the win is great. I think this game will be very defining in making that change to Australia's style of play that you guys say occured between 1st & 2nd halves (i didn't watch unfortunately).

Holger's system doesn't really rely on one magnificent individual which is good for a team which may or may not need to have a quick generation transition.

 

You are talking about a nation of 20 odd million people where "soccer" isn't the premier football code, in fact, ranks #3 and until recently even making the world cup was a significant achievement.

For the most part, we are a minnow in terms of world football, we don't have the population to develop a deep talent pool, don't have the same resources as the big football nations do.

For us to fairly regularly beat the big european nations in friendlies is a significant achievement given all the factors discussed.

 

While I fully agree that "soccer" is not the top sport in Australia but Australia as a nation is probably top 5 globally in terms of sports! I have never seen amount of attention sports in general gets anywhere else. So while other countries have the problem of picking a best eleven out of a small segment of society that cares about playing sports, Australia has the luxury to pick from a much bigger segment of society.

Anyways this has absolutely nothing to do with the point I raised. Beating, heck even drawing, the current squad of Germany in a friendly is a big achievement which probably Iran and New Zealand (two countries I support) will not be able to achieve any time soon. My point was around the specific comment of linking this win as some sort of a pay back to a 4-0 WC loss.

 

Good point.

Just as an example...there are only approximately 60,000 registered players in Victoria. Slightly less in other states such as Western Australia and a bit over four times that amount in NSW. That's not a very large number to develop.

 

Amongst Kamran's backhanded compliments, s/he does make some valid points. And once I work out what they are, I'll be the first to let everyone know.

 

He wasn't referring to "payback". There really is no such thing anyway, just another match down the track. He was referring to the fact the team came back from that defeat to play positively against them. Sometimes mentally its hard to face up to a team that has heavily defeated you, but he (Lucas Neill) was expressing pleasure at the fact that his team didn't suffer from that.

 

Actually there was no compliment there, only facts. You just managed to beat Germany, in Germany big thing to achieve. I don't understand what is so backhanded about that?

 

Germany began with only three regular starters (Friedrich isn't anymore), so it's not that far fetched.

 

They also put on a lackluster performance; slow and unmotivated. Looked more like they were saving energy rather than going out to win convincingly.