Germany 1-2 Australia: No Magical Solution in Defense

March 29th, 2011 | by: Anne | Comments Off

Well. We lost! And by “we” I mean an entirely experimental side, filled with young kids and some veterans that didn’t really bring their A game. Bright spots: Schürrle, Götze, Träsch (umlauts incoming!). Disappointingly not so bright spots: Hummels, Schmelzer, Bender. Feel free to discuss among yourselves in the comments – I actually didn’t see the whole game and don’t have time for a detailed writeup. Commenter Nick_GWCB kindly provided a transcription of some post-match comments by Kahn and Löw in the comments of this post, if you’re interested.

“Highlights”:

The U-21s could only manage a 2-2 draw with Italy, because apparently we really are cursed when it comes to Italy! The first half saw two great goals from captain Lewis Holtby and an overall solid performance, then the second half saw two silly concessions. Sound familiar? Sigh. Here are those highlights:

Finally, in better news, the U-17s sealed their progression to the finals of the EURO with a third consecutive 2-0 win, this one over Switzerland, with goals from Samed Yesil and Cimo Röcker. This elimination comes with history because in the last competition, it was Switzerland that knocked Germany out at this very round. Excellent work from the German youth. The draw for the final groups will take place on April 5th, and the tournament will take place May 3-15.