Pop World Cup 2010: Group D – Australia 1 Germany 1

I had no idea! I didn’t expect SSS to be completely unknown, but I couldn’t find anything that would indicate having them suit up would be less than fair play.

Not the most engaging match for me. Think I might go for a prolonged toilet break and just look at the hallways of the stadium.

Hmm. Either the refs have been bought off (they are called Sneaky after all) or I had too much to drink at half-time: somehow I voted for Australia before I even heard the tracks. Ah well, it’s probably my fault, even though I thought Germany played a very unexpected game.

As an Australian, I’m a bit worried about the Poperoos chances overall, and think emulating the German’s tactics of fielding veterans should have been considered. That said, in this case, I feel the German’s rough and ready gameplay here may be undone by the Australian slickness.

The crowd reaction on this one is instructive! (Though of course the punters who roar the loudest aren’t always the ones who decide the match.)

Generally you want to watch a match like this several times over to get a feel for the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing sides, but here a single viewing was enough for me to make up my mind.

Germany’s pulling out one of the creakiest formations in the playbook, one with which both America and England have had success, though not in many decades. And although they put a typically Teutonic spin on it — the well-drilled repetition of the defensive side puts me in mind of more recent German teams, especially the great Czukay and Florian squads of the 70s — it is ultimately too limited and ineffectual a game against an Australian side that bulldozes them in both energy and imagination.

Which isn’t to say the Australian team doesn’t have its weaknesses; they’re too pleased with themselves by half, relying heavily on a star striker with more flair than stamina, and against a team less stolidly traditional than the Germans’ I could see them falling apart by the half. But this game is what’s being played, and Australia dominates the pitch in one of the biggest blowouts yet in the series.

I took against Heinz in Telstar, the Joe Meek story, so take against him here too. And while, yes, he was born in Germany nearly everything else in the Germany entry is actually a Holloway Road entry instead.

The Aussie track is perfectly acceptable against the the Germans and an easy win for me.

The big teams do appear to be putting in fairly subdued early performances but here’s hoping they’ll pick up as the tournament progresses.

A poor performance from the Australians here, and the Germans seem content to settle for a no-score draw until they get a couple of surprise goals in the second half.

Tightest game yet!