A good performance from an under-strength Socceroo side has seen them secure a 2-2 draw against the world champions, Germany.
It could have been a win as well with Australia taking a 2-1 lead early in the second half off the boot or skipper Mile Jedinak, before Lukas Podolski levelled the scores for the hosts in the 81st minute.
FINAL SCORE:
Socceroos 2
Germany 2
The best team in the world tackles the best team in Asia. Join The Roar from 6:30am (AEDT) for all the action as Germany and Australia meet in Kaiserslautern for an international friendly.
Ange Postecoglou and his Australian team deservedly got the accolades for their maiden Asian Cup win two months ago. Now new challenges and the road to the 2018 World Cupa await, and the first big test is Germany.
The Socceroos and Germany have a fair shared history and have played each other twice in the past five years. The last encounter was in 2011, when the green and gold secured an impressive come-from-behind 2-1 win, in what was Australia’s first game since the defeat to Japan in the 2011 Asian Cup final.
A year before that and it was all Germany, the Europeans routing the Aussies 4-0 in South Africa.
The Socceroos have had their share of German coaches in the past, like Holger Osieck and Rudi Gutendorf, while Bernd Stange had a great stint in charge of Perth Glory in the NSL. There’s also two prominent Germans currently getting around in the A-League in Brisbane Roar pair Thomas Broich and Jerome Polenz.
Perhaps the most famous clashes between the Socceroos and Germany came back at the 1974 World Cup, when Australia went down to both East Germany and West Germany. Pillau-born Socceroo defender Manfred Schaefer, who migrated down under at the age of 11, came up against the likes of Franz Beckenbauer and co at that tournament.
Today Germany has become a popular place for Australian footballers to ply their trade with the Bundesliga emerging as one of, if not the best, league in the world.
Mitch Langerak is on at the books at Borussia Dortmund while Robbie Kruse, who is unavailable for this game through injury, is with Bayer Leverkusen. In Germany’s second division Matthew Leckie and Ben Halloran feature, while in the 3 Bundesliga you can find Musti Amini and Milos Degenek, with Kwame Yeboah contracted to Borussia Monchengladbach.
Shorn of Kruse, Tim Cahill and Matthew Spirnanovic, and with doubts on the fitness of Tomi Juric and Massimo Luongo, there’s no doubt that Postecoglou’s men are up against it for this game. Mitch Langerak is also out with injury.
Germany has selected a strong squad and won’t want to be embarrassed at home. However they have a key Euro 2016 qualifier with Georgia next week, so Joachim Low may look to rotate his squad.
Postecoglou has selected a number of new faces, such as uncapped trio Tarek Elrich, Luke DeVere and Chris Ikonomidis. It’s unlikely he will thrown them in against Die Mannschaft, with the fixture against Macedonia more likely.
I’m tipping a Socceroo XI to be something like this: Ryan, Davidson, Sainsbury, Wilkinson, Franjic, McKay, Jedinak, Milligan, Leckie, Troisi, Burns.
Join The Roar from Kaiserslautern where we’ll be live blogging play from 6:30am (AEDT).
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Josh
Guest
Come on Az, you saw the result last night -we don't need him now we have Kerem !
AZ_RBB
Guest
"Yeah we let that one slip, probably should have brought Juric on earlier and given him time to get injured" FTFY
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Fantastic performance Roos, well done !
Ian
Guest
Bollocks.
calvin
Roar Rookie
Oar was given some time here by Ang but I'm still not convinced he's physically up to international football. He has a great cross and there was a chance he created that Leckie? ought to have nailed. But on defense he gets turned far too easily close to the box, and does anyone feel like Aus lost all its possessive momentum in the second half after the changes? It wasn't quite park-the-bus but certainly the ball was stuck in their half after that point and they were left to counter-attacking rather than keeping pressure in Germany's half as they did so well in the 1st.
Gareth
Guest
Yep, most of his game is very good but his finishing is lacking. Commentary on the stream I was on were asking why he's not playing at a higher level and highlighted his finishing as the main reason.
striker
Guest
Great result well done
jamesb
Guest
Leckie just can't buy a goal.
Abbey
Guest
Good job Australia! The boys played well! Unlucky Germany, you boys played excellent as normal thats why you are the best in the world but good job Australia for keeping up.
sydutd77
Guest
Germany looked like world champions?
ciudadmarron
Guest
Or the one in Monchengladbach.... or Eindhoven.... or the SFS... ;)
AZ_RBB
Guest
Pretty much. Hopefully some Asian minnows help introduce Leckie with the back of the net. Need him firing by 2018.
David k
Guest
Pretty good result?!? It's an incredible result, friendly or not. Can you imagine the English papers if England had won the World Cup then drawn with New Zealand?? That's what this is like in reverse.
Josh
Guest
Yeah we let that one slip, probably should have brought Juric on earlier and given him time to set something up.
jamesb
Guest
Good result. Probably should've won.
John Davidson
Roar Guru
A pretty good performance from an under-strength Socceroo side. 2-2 against the world champions is nothing to be sneezed at. And it could have been a win. Thoughts Roarers?
John Davidson
Roar Guru
FULL-TIME But it's too late and the ref blows his whistle. That's it in Kasierslautern, a decent result for the Aussies with a 2-2 draw. Australia 2 Germany 2
John Davidson
Roar Guru
'92 One last attack from Germany... Australia 2 Germany 2
John Davidson
Roar Guru
'91 A nice cross from the Socceroos but now Podolski is away, but he shot drags to the right. Close Australia 2 Germany 2
John Davidson
Roar Guru
'90 Three minutes of extra time. Could be an eternity for the Socceroos to hold on. Australia 2 Germany 2