Australia and Germany served up an entertaining 2-2 draw on Wednesday in Kaiserslautern, during an international friendly that was filled with wide-open, attacking football.
The result is a fantastic outcome for the Socceroos, who came within 10 minutes of beating the defending world champions and thoroughly deserved the tie.
Before the match, OptaFranz shared Germany’s recent record in friendlies played at home, which didn’t look as good as you might expect from the current world champions:
Die Mannschaft had a strong start, however, threatening Mathew Ryan’s goal early. Holger Badstuber connected with a nice cross before Ilkay Gundogan attempted to curl the ball into the far corner, just missing the target.
The Socceroos were somewhat taken aback by the pace of the hosts early, and Ryan needed to produce some technical trickery to deal with pressure from Marco Reus. Mathew Leckie then found some space, beating Benedikt Howedes before placing his shot just wide of the post.
Australia quickly grew into the match, and chances were coming fast and furious. Mario Gotze had some success with the ball at his feet, and Reus nearly opened the scoring with an effort from Sami Khedira, only to be called back for offside. The Borussia Dortmund man was more successful minutes later, again linking up with Khedira.
The New York Times‘ Cristian Nyari was impressed with the way the Germans were linking up, even if it was clear Reus was not at his best:
Reus should have taken advantage of some poor defending from Mile Jedinak to double the lead minutes later, forcing a difficult shot into the side netting when Ryan left more space at the far corner.
Khedira was bossing play in midfield, and Australia had no answer for the soon-to-be free agent. FourFourTwo‘s Alex Chaffer wondered how his performance would play into his value on the market this coming summer:
Jedinak in particular was struggling with the pace but almost made up for his earlier mistake with a superb shot from distance which troubled goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler.
The Socceroos thrilled the home crowd by not backing down and playing the world champions head-on, and their approach was rewarded just before half-time. A great cross fell to James Troisi, who powered home a header from close range.
Sure enough, the team’s official Twitter account was excited:
The Germans tried to pick up the pace again to end the half, but Australia comfortably stood firm, ensuring the score would remain 1-1 heading into half-time.
Bleacher Report’s Simon Edmonds noted how the development of Australia’s domestic league has really helped the game tremendously in the past few years, culminating in the Socceroos’ win at this year’s Asia Cup:
Things were about to get even sweeter for the visitors, who took a shock lead after just four minutes in the second half. Jedinak curled home a magnificent free-kick, leaving Zieler no chance:
Cue the memes, courtesy of Bleacher Report AUS:
The Germans were now reeling, and Troisi missed a unique chance at doubling the visitors’ advantage, curling a shot past the far post.
A bevy of substitutions sucked all of the momentum out of the match—and the stadium—until Zieler decided to get adventurous, dribbling the ball right into the feet of Tommy Oar. The stopper was very lucky Oar couldn’t gather the ball in time to take advantage.
Bleacher Report’s Karl Matchett made a reference to team-mate Manuel Neuer:
With the substitutions, the match somewhat collapsed. Howedes appealed for a handball inside the box, although it was unclear where exactly that would have taken place. Lukas Podolski’s introduction added a little boost to Germany’s attack, but it still seemed as if the Socceroos would hold on to their lead easily.
The Inter Milan man had other plans, however, tying things up with less than 10 minutes left on the clock. Andre Schurrle did all of the hard work, setting his team-mate up beautifully for the easy finish. Chaffer was hardly shocked:
You would forgive the Aussies for parking the bus and playing for a draw at this stage, but the Socceroos had been attacking all night and had no intention of changing that. With Zieler looking shaky in goal at best, a handful of long-range shots were tried in the final five minutes.
The home fans were not satisfied and made their feelings known, but to no avail. Podolski had one more shot on goal, driving it miles wide.
Fans shouldn’t forget this is just a friendly, and a host of regular starters were on the German bench. But that said, Australia can take plenty of positives from this match. The Socceroos took the game to Germany and arguably had the better chances, a clear signal their attacking approach works and shouldn’t be shunned even against the top sides.
Die Mannschaft can certainly do better and have been slumping of late, but this team will easily qualify for Euro 2016 and likely play far better once the chips are down and the regular starters return.
Relevant Match Grades
Mile Jedinak: B+
He bounced back well after some initial struggles and used his physicality well to break up the German attacks. He was always strong in service of Troisi, who deserves a special mention. He had a superb free-kick to make it 2-1.
Mathew Ryan: B
The Club Brugge man may be slightly undersized for the position, but he more than makes up for it with elite athleticism and fantastic reflexes. Ryan was already a popular name in terms of transfer speculation, and his performance on Wednesday will only add to the chatter.
Sami Khedira: B+
Say what you will about Khedira, but when healthy, he remains one of the most uniquely gifted players in the world. He was excellent in the first half and very good in the second. Whichever team lands him on a free transfer this summer will be conducting some of the best business imaginable.
Post-Match Reaction
Scorer Troisi was understandably ecstatic with the result, noticing the German defenders were under real pressure all night:
Jedinak even thought more could have been achieved:
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