Cahill unfazed by German taunts
11/06/2010 11:11 AM
Paul Gough in Johannesburg
Sportal

Tim Cahill says the Socceroos are more than happy to have been christened as 'boring' by German coach Joachim Low in the lead-up to their opening World Cup clash in Durban on Sunday as he promised Australia would try to frustrate the three-time winners at every opportunity.

Australia conceded just four goals in 14 matches while qualifying for the World Cup through Asia for the first time and with Mark Schwarzer has one of the best keepers in the tournament of any of the 32 competing nations.

And certainly Low believes Australia will attempt to play for a 0-0 draw, a result that even skipper Lucas Neill has admitted would be fantastic, as Low predicted it would be up to his side to do all the attacking.

"Australia can be expected to offer anything but a great spectacle,'' the German coach said.

"We want to win the game, we want to play forward-orientated football ... we want to be active."

"(But) Australia is all about top organisation, incredible workrate and almost a perfect defence - it's very difficult to unbalance that team and many other nations have had a hard time against Australia."

However Low's comments hardly fazed Cahill, who with 20 goals in just 40 appearances for Australia is considered the biggest threat to Germany on Sunday.

"Let them throw stones, we'll just cop it on the chin," he said.

"There is a lot of talk about the Germans talking us down and how well they are going to do and for us that is a positive."

"We are going into the game as underdogs and hopefully try to make our imprint on the game as soon as possible."

Cahill said he was surprised to hear of the criticism being directed at Australia from Germany considering the Germans' reputation for winning games based around defence over the years.

"It definitely doesn't bother us," he said of the boring tag being levelled at the Socceroos.

"What do they (Germany) want - this is a World Cup, it's one of the biggest sporting events in the world so for us as long as we stay defensively compact and then hit them on the break and see what happens, then that is the main thing for us."

But Cahill knows the Germans will be tough to beat despite not having the same kind of experience in their ranks as past teams with captain Michael Ballack to miss the tournament through injury.

"It's hard to compare (this German team to the one which reached the semi-finals four years ago) because they are missing a lot of big names but then it opens the door for the youngsters to come through and obviously they have got a lot of talent there already."

"So they are a very good outfit and they have always been there or thereabouts in most of the competitions they have played in over the years so they are going to be very competitive."

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