The Socceroos have built on their historic Asian Cup triumph by holding world champions Germany to a thrilling 2-2 draw in Kaiserslautern.
An understrength Australia looked on course for a huge upset in Wednesday’s (Thursday AEDT) international friendly after captain Mile Jedinak put them ahead 2-1 with a stunning 50th-minute free kick.
But substitute Lukas Podolski struck against a tiring Australian defence in the 81st minute to spare the home side’s blushes at a packed Walter Fritz Stadium.
Asian Cup hero James Troisi scored for the second successive match, pulling Australia back level just before halftime after Borussia Dortmund star Marco Reus had opened the scoring in the 17th minute.
Ange Postecoglou’s side could have been several goals ahead had they been sharper in front of goal, with Mathew Leckie and Nathan Burns causing Joachim Loew’s side plenty of headaches in attack.
Already missing first team regulars Tim Cahill and Matthew Spiranovic, Postecoglou was also missing Massimo Luongo (groin) and Trent Sainsbury (knee).
The coach handed a surprise international debut to 25-year-old Brisbane Roar defender Luke DeVere, who partnered Alex Wilkinson in central defence, while Matt McKay was preferred to Tommy Oar in midfield.
Germany fielded a typically-powerful line-up but, with an eye on next week’s Euro 2016 qualifier in Georgia, left big guns including Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos on the bench.
Despite having less than two days to prepare in Germany, Postecoglou had promised his depleted side wouldn’t play it safe and so it proved as Australia took the game to the world champions early.
With Leckie’s pace causing problems to Germany’s back three and McKay and Mark Milligan pulling the strings in midfield, Australia had the best early chances and should have scored first.
Leckie wasted a great one-on-one opportunity in the ninth minute before Burns missed a free header from a superb McKay cross five minutes later.
Germany, persisting with a new formation, looked vulnerable in the defence but the Socceroos were equally shaky at times.
The nervy DeVere and Jedinak coughed up possession on several occasions, while Ivan Franjic was under heavy pressure at right back and it was down the left side the Germans made the opening breakthrough.
Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira glided through a gap and found Reus, who finished with a glancing shot that gave Mat Ryan no chance.
The goal didn’t force the Socceroos into a shell, with Jedinak forcing a great save out of Ron-Robert Zieler with a speculative long-range effort.
Australia got the goal their first-half performance deserved five minutes before the break.
Troisi, who netted the winner in the Asian Cup final against South Korea, latched on to a Burns cross with a fine header to beat Zieler.
The game continued in end-to-end fashion after the break and the Socceroos took a surprise lead through their skipper.
Troisi was fouled on the edge of the penalty box and Jedinak, from an awkward angle, brilliantly curled his free kick past Zieler on the near post.
Germany started to mount heavy pressure on the Australian goal, with Ryan forced into several great stops and Wilkinson producing some brilliant scrambling defence.
Oar, Aaron Mooy, Wright, Oliver Bozanic and Tomi Juric all came off the bench as Germany finished the stronger side, salvaging a draw when substitutes Andrew Schurrle and Podolski combined for the equaliser against some lacklustre defending.
brian drian
Guest
cheers!
BigAl
Guest
so you really do like tacky nick names
Punter
Guest
Exactly Horto, this German team had a attacking players that would be the envy of any country in the world, the likes of Marco Reus, Mario Gotze and Mesut Ozil all started. Our attacking comprised of a 2nd tier Player in Germany, a player in the A-League & a player playing in the Belgium league. It was an admirable achievement.
RIP_Enke
Guest
what are you on about mate? The whole world calls it soccer, football is not exclusive to soccer, there are many codes it encapsulates. You have to get over the history of the game and see we are going up and up, that's something to get excited about!
Horto Magiko
Guest
@AR Ok.. Fair enough. But you did feel the need to point out that Germany were depleted so to speak.. Admittedly it wasn't a full strength side put out.. And they did rest players too.. We quibble over terms, but one could say Germany had an experimental side out there and we had a depleted one.. (Anyway Like punter says even a Germany B team is nothing to be scoffed at. Not that it technically was one..) I just reckon that one can't simplify the situation and state both sides were depleted.. We were depleted through injury.. (For eg. key players Timmy spira and mass out. We also had a debutant out there) and to take it to them under those particular circumstances and on their patch to boot is an even more admirable achievement.. And i feel is worthy of the clarification.
Punter
Guest
Melbourneterrace, you don't know what you're talking about, you don't know what you're talking about.
Brick Tamland of the pants party
Guest
Absolutely fantastic performance but should have 5 or 6 without a doubt. Burns, Leckie and Troisi all missed a few real opportunities they should have put away. What a display though attacked the Germans from the get go and even when they threatened to take control the boys dug in and regained control for big periods of the game. Not bad from a side who a certain individual said didn't deserve to share the same pitch as the Germans when the game was announced.
melbourneterrace
Guest
No other football nation exclusively refers to their team by their nickname, it's childish and silly.
Bondy
Guest
Andy I dont care if you call it soccer no problem but socceroos reflects that we're a soccer nation and it will be removed one day ...
c
Guest
That's because he is a greek Victorian
c
Guest
Ease up bondy we soccer people know what is going on the rest of Australia will eventually catch up ;)
Punter
Guest
Yes exactly the way I saw it too JB. No way do I expect the Germans to be experimenting both with the back 3 (ala Chile) & with the players if this was more then just a friendly. Like Van Gall found out at the world cup, Australia's lowly world rank position & lack of top level players, proved to me that as a team, we are probably not a good idea to experiment against. This is a big tick to Ange. Lets not forget probably Australia's best player plays in the Bunsliga 2. The Socceroos were brave & took it to the Germans, who were below par & experimenting no doubt.
j binnie
Guest
Punter - Like you I enjoyed every moment of this competitive trial game while appreciating it was just that,a trial game.I was initially interested in the 11 Germany would put on the field for it is obvious from recent results the national team may well be on a re-build after the success in Brazil When the game started it became obvious they were in fact trying out the controversial "back three" formation,which purportedly allows more men to be played in the "engine room" of the team thereby facilitating dominance in midfield.Like Van Gall before him,both in the Dutch national team and at Old Trafford, Low is experiencing some difficulty in getting his players to adapt to the system,and it was in this area I think Leckie and Triosi with their speed and Burns with his ball skills made huge inroads into Germany's back third.Result,a very interesting contest . Sure there were basic errors being made all around the field,by both teams,but that is one of the reasons for trial games and the Germans were making just as many as our boys. Ange would probably have taken more out of this trial than did Low,for his "new" formation is subject to penetration out wide that can only be countered by extremely mobile defenders and good comprehension and effort from the over-manned midfield. He has lots of work to do in that area. The Aussies,they can only take heart from their performance,for even if their opponent is "toying" with a new system his players are all of a very high standard and none of our boys disgraced themselves in that company,so onwards and upwards. jb
jeznez
Roar Guru
So glad to see the Aussie side playing with some Aussie spirit again - the turn around from that meek effort under Pim in South Africa where we went down 4-0 without even firing a shot against these guys has been great to see.
Andy
Guest
Haha so because we control the name of our team we should conform to what you believe is the correct name Bondy? Maybe people like the name. maybe it differentiates the Australian Football side from many other sporting teams. Maybe people are more than happy to be called so, and maybe the only people whingeing about it are people like yourself who have a constant urge to be outraged.
Uncle Junior
Guest
This morning at the office and on the train into the CBD, the conversation was "did you watch Australia vs Germany". My dad, who calls the sport 'soccer' more than football sent me an SMS at the final whistle saying "Australia played incredibly well". I've got no issue with Socceroos as a nickname - foreigners I've met at football tournaments think the name is great; but I can't think of any context where I've used it recently.
jeznez
Roar Guru
What the Baggy Greens isn't a nickname? Isn't used as frequently as some of the other but there certainly isn't any doubt over who is being referred to if it is used.\ Anyway - how far down this blog do I have to scroll to get people's opinions on the game!?!
AR
Guest
"Don’t try and remove some of the shine off of this mornings achievement AR" Um, I didn't. Not sure what knife you're sharpening Horto, but my post was an obviously positive one: - Both sides had players missing, a top effort from us, we've buried those big losses in the past, Ange doing brilliantly. You can get out the microscope to search for perceived negativity if you like, but my comment was a pretty uncontroversial (and positive) one.
Uncle Junior
Guest
From today's Starting 11, only 1 player has never played A-League. 4 of the 11 currently are in the A-League (McKay, Milligan, DeVere, Burns); 6 got scouted by foreign clubs when they were playing A-League (Ryan, Franjic, Wilkinson, Jedinak, Leckie and Troisi). Makes you realise how little people knew when they looked at results before the Asian Cup and tried to tell us "we don't have the cattle". Those of us who watch football know that it would take organisation, vision and, above all, patience. This is a work in progress. Russia 2018 is when we will see just how far we've come as a football nation.
Rossad
Guest
You are right. In an interview, Lowy said FFA had decided to change Socceroos to Footballroos as part of the major re-branding of the sport in 2005, when Soccer Australia became FFA ... if we didn't qualify for the 2006 WC. After qualifying, the Soceroos brand was so popular it couldn't be changed.