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

Well, speculating, maybe it is because Germany's biggest weakness is their defense. Good to see Australia go for it as I think they knew that they would need goals to win this. hard to sit back on this German team without trying to go for it, and when Australia did, they sure did show how it could have been done with better finishing, then again, Germany could claim the same after Klose missed two sitters.

If I were to manage against Germany, "attack" would be my Plan A and Plan B.

 

loew's squad selection after the injuries (ie. none) means that kroos is the first and only guy who could play CM in case either of the 2 starting get injured, so basically this puts him on the bench. He should have come straight in for oezil otherwise, or be starting.

 

This may sound farfetched, but could it be possible that Pim had already given up on this game before the whistle and decided to conceal his true tactics by playing a 'new' improvised system?

 

Yes, That is very far-fetched...

 

The Finland match ended 3-3. Germany had to "catch up" to the 3 goals everytime....that was the difference.

 

Klose saved our A$$ess 3 times in that match

 

I remember in the quals for 2002 Germany couldn't defeat the Finns either (0-0 in Germany and 2-2 in Finland), and this time around 3-3 in Finland and 1-1 in Germany.

I think they got your number.

 

They sure do...

 

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

Cahill is at least Australia's top threat to score if not their best player. With Australia down 2-0 to Gernany and Cahill Red Carded I knew the game was definitely over. It would have been hard enough for the Aussie's to come back anyway without Cahill it was impossible. As far as the Red Card I think it was a bit harsh.

 

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

It was very harsh as there was no "intent" to harm. He was pulling his legs back.

 

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

After reviewing the play, it was too harsh IMO. A yellow would have sufficed.

Cahill was out of position today though, it seemed to me.

 

This was the best game I saw Garcia play for Australia. He actually got the ball and did some decent stuff with it. Neill had his worst game. He was exposed in defence. Verbeek's starting line-up was weird to say the least. Culina in Cahill's position and Cahill as a striker? Cahill's sending-off was on the cards. He didn't learn his lesson from the NZ friendly. He tried to back-out this time but he got Schweinsteiger from behind.

I liked Muller and Ozil. They played well. Lahm showed once again why he is one of the best players in that German team. A great player to watch. Klose and Podolski may not be good at club level now but they showed that they deliver for their country and that's where it really counts.

 

I can't believe the ref in this game. The red card on Cahill was ridiculous, not to mention the blatant German handball that was conveniently ignored.

Yes, we played rubbish and we deserved to lose, but what was Verbeek thinking using this untried lineup? Why didn't he include Kennedy, Kewell etc, and what the ******** was he doing putting Cahill up front by himself?? He barely got an opportunity to succeed!

Weeeeeeeeeell done. We never thought we'd win, but between the ref and the coach, you made us look weak and stupid.

 

I'm pretty sure the starting lineup was this:

-------Valeri----Grella
Emerton-----------------Culina
---------Cahill----Garcia

Culina was meant to be keeping tabs on Lahm, which worked for all of five minutes.

By half time it had become:

-------Grella-----Valeri
Emerton-----Culina------Garcia
-----------Cahill

Then:

-------Culina----Valeri
Emerton----Holman------Garcia
-----------Cahill

 

The starting lineup pictured here pre-match in Australia had Cahill as the lone striker, and this is how it appear to me for the game. We were all amazed and distraught.

 

Never trust those things - they're guesswork. When a team is out of posession the shape they take will tell you at lot more, and for most of the first half Garcia and Cahill were up front together.

 

Serious question: What handball? I remember (was it Mertesacker) with his arms next to his upper body the ball being headed from maybe 80 cm against one arm. Are you talking about that one?

 

I must have blinked and missed this. When?

 

Here's a great article by Uli Hesse (the best English language source for German football) about the game:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/columns/story?id=796283&cc=5739&ver=global

He thinks that Cacau should start:

I happen to agree.

 

I can't believe Klose gets as much flack as he does. The guy was the top scorer in the 2006 World Cup and runner up in 2002. If he scores as many goals in this World Cup as he has in the last two, he will match the record for the most number of goals scored by any player in the World Cup. And while Klose is certainly deadly in the air, as the 2nd best goal scorer in German football history already, he has scored plenty of goals with his foot as well. Indeed, in the 2006 World Cup, only his 5th goal was a header.

I think Germany does well with Klose in the lineup, something highlighted by the fact that the Germans have never lost a match in which Klose has scored. (And he scored in many of their matches). To have Cacau in the mix is good. But I believe Klose should typically start for Germany and be kept in the match until the Germans have at least taken the lead.

 

Cacau scored by far the easiest chance of the match, perfectly weighted ball to him with no pressure and he was even closer than Klose on his other chance that he fluffed. Man, he's almost the version of Fritz in terms of overrating a player before the tournament...

 

Might be true, but Klose's performance cerainly didn't justify Low's preference on him. And although considering the final score one might say that it doesn't really matter, it will matter agains tougher opponents. You cannot have your striker missing 3-4 sitters and hope that every time things will work out as they did in this game.