Germany Hold Off Socceroos

For the 48,000 fans at the sold out Waldstadion in Frankfurt, Germany's opening match victory against Australia was largely entertaining, if not at times nerve-wracking. A soccer coach would have pulled out his or her hair, wondering how a team can suffer such lapses of concentration.

"Winning the opening match and the three points are very important," said Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann, "but we also know some things didn't work optimally."

Namely, giving up two first-half equalizers to the Socceroos and then also a goal in stoppage time, but fortunately at that point, Klinsmann's squad had a two-goal advantage.

Six minutes of excitement

The first 15 minutes of the match were uneventful with both sides walking on pins and needles, playing stiffly. Kevin Kuranyi's goal in the 17th minute started what would be a toe-to-toe punchout in the following six minutes.

Before the fans could sit back down after celebrating the newly-acquired striker by Schalke, Germany's central defender Robert Huth mugged John Aloisi unnecessarily outside the German penalty box. Josip Skoko took the free-kick and instead of lifting the ball, he kept it on the ground. That was unfortunate because the wall jumped and watched the leather roll under their feet. After 19 minutes, the score stood 1-1.

Germany roared right back, with Per Mertesacker the benefactor of some sloppy defending by the Australian defense and scored in the 23rd minute. It was his first goal with the national squad, leaving many of the fans rubbing their eyes as their squad decided that attacking soccer, hardly what Germany has been known for the past decade and a half, would bring success.

Since taking over last July, Jürgen Klinsmann promised more offense from the German team and he has held true to his promise. At a cost, namely a porous defense.

Amateurish defense

Eight minutes after resecuring the lead, some very sharp passing and flat-footed defending allowed Australia to get a second equalizer. This time John Aloisi beat his defender easily to streak into the penalty box and beat Kahn. The remainder of the second half, Germany played insecurely and receiving a few catcalls when the referee Carlos Amarilla blew his whistle to end the first half.

Coming out of the locker room, Germany were rejuvenated and put Australia's back against the wall. It paid off in the 60th minute when Arne Friedrich, one of Germany's best players in the match, drew a penalty. Team captain Michael Ballack stepped and calmly sunk the spot kick and Germany led 3-2.

The goal broke the Australian resistance as the teams who both had expended much energy in the first hour, slowed the pace down. The game started getting sloppy as passes frequently landed on an opponent's foot or out of bounds.

Podolski secures victory

Lukas Podolski was less affected by the fast pace. In the 88th minute, he scored what would turn out to be the gamewinning goal after a strong run by Ballack. The two-goal lead was a relief to the sell-out crowd who could finally start singing after a night filled more with wonderment as the mostly unknown Socceroos put world soccer power Germany through the paces. But it was almost not enough.

In stoppage time, the German backline fell asleep as it did against Russia one week ago. Aloisi again could break free and scored as the defenders wondered how he got behind them.

The fans then had to wait only another 30 seconds before Amarilla blew the final whistle and they could breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Klinsmann has promised excitement and that is what they got.