Scoreless Draw With Australia May Be Best For Germany

Clark Whitney asserts that Germany’s recent friendly victories may have masked their most glaring weaknesses.

By Clark Whitney
Jun 12, 2010 9:30:00 AM

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Germany may have won all three of their warm-up matches, but all is not well in coach Joachim Loew’s camp. Miroslav Klose and Piotr Trochwoski started the latter two matches in attacking positions, but had no part in any of their team’s six goals. So ineffective were the pair that five of those six goals came only after their substitution, the other following a dodgy penalty call that had nothing to do with either of them.

The poor form of Klose and Trochowski should come as no surprise: the former scored just three league goals and barely played for Bayern Munich last year, while the latter struggled to earn a starting role at injury-plagued Hamburg.

All this prompts an intriguing question: if they are not good enough to feature for club, why should Klose and Trochowski be starters for country?

In case form was not enough to convince Loew to select Cacau (three goals and a hand in two more in the friendlies) and Thomas Mueller in his starting lineup, the shocking result of a training match earlier this week should have. In that contest, Loew’s “B” team beat his first-choice XI 5-3.

When your reserves beat your first team, it should be a clear indicator that something is wrong with your selection. Loew, however, is an exception. In a press conference earlier this week, the Germany gaffer confirmed that Klose and Trochowski would start against Australia, adding, “I have a good feeling about Miro. I think he’ll rediscover his old form and physical freshness.”


Loew’s unwavering confidence in Klose is wishful thinking, but comes with a precedent. Many will recall that the Germany boss selected an out-of-form Klose to start at Euro 2008, and the striker scored twice in six matches. That was an altogether different situation, however. At the time, Loew had no in-form backup with any amount of international experience. The squad was so thin that fullback Clemens Fritz started the tournament on the right side of midfield.

This summer the Germans have far more depth. With Cacau and playmaker Mesut Oezil having forged an understanding in recent friendlies, Loew finally has a second option up front. On the right flank, Mueller and Marko Marin have proven themselves to be far more effective than Trochowski, whose indirect style of attacking is more suited for teams with a poacher in the penalty area.

What will it take for Loew to shuffle his squad? For that question, there is also a precedent. After limping through the group stage at Euro 2008, Loew reinstated Bastian Schweinsteiger in place of the creatively lacking Fritz, and withdrew Klose’s hapless striking partner Mario Gomez in favor of a 4-2-3-1 formation with Thomas Hitzlsperger as a midfield anchor. Germany may not have had the most convincing run through the knockout rounds, but improved enough to advance to the finals.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s opener against Australia, a blowout victory with a hat trick from Klose and a trio of assists from Trochowski would be great for the Germans. But let’s not get carried away. Among the more realistic possibilities, perhaps a scoreless draw would be more beneficial for Germany than victory with Klose and Trochowski failing to make an impact. After all, the group stages are relatively forgiving. High-profile matches against Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and the Netherlands, however, are not. Even with a draw, Germany are quite capable of winning Group D. If such a result in the first match caused Loew to select his best starting XI, it would all be for the better.

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