James Batchelor: Australia Deserved a Better Result But Robbed By Another Referee

Foreword from the Editor- The whole SER team does not agree with this post, however James Batchelor (an Aussie) certainly does which is why he wrote about the match. I personally feel Germany just played them of the park!

All the news articles on last nights game talk about how Germany thrashed Australia, but no articles say or credit the way the Aussies played.

The Australians came out strong in the opening minutes, giving Germany a hard time on the offensive end, with a very strong defensive unit that shut out the German front line. The Germans looked nervous in the opening minutes as the Aussies seemed stronger than expected, and the Aussies very nearly netted in the first goal of the game when Richard Garcia’s point blank shot was blocked by Philipp Lahm. At the 8 minute mark, Australia had a lapse in their defense and the un-marked Podolski smashed one home from 15 yards out and Mark Schwarzers right hand was not enough to stop the ball from crossing the line.

Australia had some promising attacks after that goal and looked like they might be able to hit one back, but the Germans looked the more threatening and they were rewarded with a goal in the 26th minute when Mark Schwarzer should of caught Lahm’s cross, but Klose took advantage of the Aussies’ keeper’s mistake.

Even at 2-0 down the Socceroos showed their Aussie spirit and did not give up, and were rewarded with some close calls. Heading into the break, I was hoping that Harry Kewell and Mark Bresciano would come on and give Australia some more attacking flare however, it was Brett Holman who came on for Vince Grella and at first I did not know whether this was the right decision. The first half was quite impressive for the Socceroos and definitely the best performance from the Aussie squad I’ve seen for a long time.

At the start of the second half the Aussies came out firing and it looked like we could of had a game on our hands. The German coach, Joachim Low, looked very worried as he ‘knew’ the Socceroos were capable of coming back, as 4 years ago Australia scored 3 goals in the last 7 minutes to come back from behind and beat Japan in their opening game of the World Cup. The Aussies were denied a clear penalty in the opening minutes of the second half as the German defender clearly handled the ball in the box. The Aussies looked the dominant side until the 56th minute, when Tim Cahill was unfairly red carded by a HOWLER of a decision by the referee (once again- sorry for the biased-ness!). In an interview after the game, Tim Cahill said “A lot of credit goes to the German team and for us, it makes it worse. I feel that maybe that decision changed the game, even though we were 2-0 down, I felt the momentum was with us.” Bastian Schweinstegier also commented saying it was an unfair decision by the Referee and should NOT have been a red card. Australia really have not had the best referees in the past and present World Cups. This decision really dashed all hopes of Australia giving Germany a run for their money, and really ruined the game for all us Aussies out there- so thank you referee.

However, the Germans did look the stronger side throughout the game, and were fantastic on the attack finding holes in the Aussie defense. I just feel that if Australia were given the Penalty the momentum would of shifted and at 2-1 it would of been a cracking of a game.

With Australia being one man down the Germans took advantage with their fantastic attacking play and slotted home 2 goals in a matter of minutes. Towards the end of the game Australia showed some attacking presence, but again were not rewarded with a goal.

Many Australians will be wondering why Harry Kewell, Josh Kennedy or Mark Brecsiano were not put on after the Cahill red card (or even before) and the answer probably is because Pim Verbeek thought that resting them for their next 2 games was more important.

Player Analysis (from Batchelor’s point of view!)

Jason Culina and Luke Wilkshire showed they had pace against the German side with some nice runs and good little dribbling technique.

Scott Chipperfield showed he still has it in him and ran round the Germans even at 34 years old.

Richard Garcia showed he had pace against the German squad but was poor with his finishing.

Brett Emerton had quite a good game and had some nice runs but needed to be a little quicker.

Lucas Neil was not at the right place at the right time and needed some more awareness in defense.

Mark Schwarzer had some nice saves, but should of caught the ball that Klose ended up scoring.

Tim Cahill had a poor first half as he hardly touched the ball, but was looking promising in the second half until he got unfairly sent off.

Brett Holman had an impressive second half with some of Australia’s most clear-cut chances of the game.