Match 7 | Germany vs. Australia | June 13th | Post-Match Thread [R]

Re: Match 8 | Germany vs. Australia | June 13th | Match Thread [R]

Might be true for some teams but not for Germany. Destroyed Yugoslavia in their first group game in 1990 and won it all, outclassed Saudi Arabia in the first group game in 02 and advanced to the Finals.

The biggest concer of this german team is that they're most likely too young to win it all. Well, you never know but against big teams this COULD be a disadvantage.
And it's not getting older after the WC as the team will be filled up with the likes of Hummels, Beck, Adler, Höwedes in defense and the generation of U-19 European Champions with the Bender twins or Holtby, having the U-17 european champions with Buchtmann, Thy, Götze etc waiting in the background. Oh, and Kroos will get a bigger role till next Euro, this guy is the biggest german talent since Bernd Schuster and hopefully he will get the chance to show some of his skills in this World Cup already.

But let's not talk too much about advancing deep in the tournament, Serbia will be a much tougher task for Germany. Similar to the last Euro, when they had big problems with a very compact team like Croatia after comfortably beating Poland. We don't really like to play these teams from the Balkans.

 

Re: Match 8 | Germany vs. Australia | June 13th | Match Thread [R]

They have the tendency to not get over complacent which is why they are the most consistent team in the world going into major tournaments. I hope they do not make such a mistake.

 

very well done, germany! can't wait to see them beat serbia and ghana, usa, argentina, netherlands, brazil, whoever, this team is nor afraid of anyone in this WC! Still long way to go, 6 victorys left for the title!! GOOO GERMANY!!!

 

Re: Match 8 | Germany vs. Australia | June 13th | Match Thread [R]

Haha, this time Marko "magic Messi" Marin didn't show his world-class, but he will do in the close matches. Today even the benchwarm sissie Klose was enough to score. Klose.

 

Re: Match 8 | Germany vs. Australia | June 13th | Match Thread [R]

I honestly hardly felt any sympathy. They played a rugby match most of the game as they couldn't stop the attacks, they simply tackled the players rather than the ball for most of the match. The red was undeserved, it should of been a yellow.

 

Here's the actual average tactical line up:






More here.

 

The advance of the Australian fullbacks explains why it was so easy for Mueller and Podolski to get in behind them or exploit the channels.

 

true, but it was still Germany vs. Australia and not Germany vs. Germany, those times are over^^. Maybe you can correct that.

 

If you cannot run, you shouldn't advance.

 

This was the most convincing opening performance by the Germans (=my team) since 1990. Even though it was "only" Australia.

This german squad has it's weaknesses. But it also has a lot to build upon. Much more, than i'm used to. Müller is awesome, Schweinsteiger is great, Lahm is rock-solid. The fact that they displayed their hunger, in contrast to 2008, makes me very optimistic.

So Serbia is next. If we beat them, which i think we have a very good chance to, and Ghana beats Australia or ties them, then the (physically) hardest match of the group, Germany vs. Ghana, will be not as hard as it could have been. All this looks very promising, and although i don't think Germany will win this, i'm convinced that they'll go very far.

 

Fantastic win for Germany. Joy to watch (especially as I was supporting Germany).

Australia was not that bad. They tackled well and had good creativity. Much better than for example, Greece, Slovenia, and Algeria. Would not be surprised to see them come out with better results in the next 2 games. Also, Australia deserves credit for their heart. They played hard and tackled hard for the whole match, even when it was far out of reach and they were clearly outclassed. They ran until the end. It would have been easier to put their heads down and jog, but they did not do it. Other teams would have quit.

 

Re: Match 8 | Germany vs. Australia | June 13th | Match Thread [R]

7 finals reached in the WCs and another 6 in the Euros say otherwise...

 

That's right, let's see what happens when they got to spend more time defending against the wingers and fullbacks with some class... I am NOT looking forward to that.

 

Austrlia's biggest mistake was to go counter punching with a team like Germany, do they think they are Brazil? They thought too big of themselves. They should have had a much more compact and more defensive game plan to have any chance against Germany.

 

Like I said....

Did the Aussies even have one shot on target after Cahill's header in the opening 5 minutes? Rely on bullying tactis and aggression and little else, worse team at the World Cup confirmed and the result proves it.

 

Yes I agree.

A Complete domination of Austrlia. They looked very sluggish.

 

As long as it was only the defense . . .

 

It was a very impressive performance by Germany, more so because this German squad also showed some un-German like flair. I really liked both Muller and Ozil and there wasn't much that I disliked about this team, although their defense and new goalie still need to prove themselves.

That said, no doubt Germany were this impressive in part because of Australia playing a very naive game tactically. The Australians gave the Germans a lot of space, starting the game with a mindset that showed they believed they actually were good enough to try to pressure them, with the Australian players playing too far up and being too slow to keep up with the Germans. And that just made them an easy side for Germany to bust wide open.

As for Australia, while I don't find them even remotely as poor as some of the comments here, I doubt they have enough to rebound from this loss, especially since they will now be without Cahill (undeserved red card) and Kewell is also still not 100% fit and recovering from injury. And this group, IMO, is one of the toughest of the tournament. For all these reasons, having already a 4:0 loss on their record in the opener, Australia may indeed end up competing for the worse record in this World Cup. But that would be just one of many times when the statistics would lie. Australia are by no means among the worse in this tournament. Even with only 8 matches played so far, we have already seen much more inept sides than Australia.

 

Well, you can say they were dumb, but not that they were cowardly.

I don't think bunkering is in the Aussie vocabulary.

 

Brazil would have been smart and played it compact...


jk

 

Giving Gomez time on the pitch is pointless. He will never find his form. I want to see Kroos more, especially after such a comfortable lead.

 

Compact, yes. Defensive? No, Australia can defend fine but they have never been a defensive team, à la Greece 2004.