Day 3: Australia in “victims of crime” shocker

Algeria 0 – 1 Slovenia

Serbia 0 – 1 Ghana

Germany 4 – 0 Australia

If England fans had any panicky worries last night that a draw with the USA could see them struggle to get out of the group, they can rest easy. Both Algeria and Slovenia showed that they should not pose a threat to either of the other sides in Group C in a frighteningly dull match to start the third day of the World Cup. Algeria were willing and probably had more about them in the game but struggled to control their passing, often overhitting the light Jabulani ball. They had a couple of half-decent chances from crosses but for the most part could not put together a really threatening forward move. They were subject to a couple of very strange tactical decisions by Rabah Saadane, as well – one of their most talented players, Karim Ziani, was deployed on the left wing but the normally right-sided player is clearly totally one-footed and his potential impact was almost completely nullified by his own positioning. Their cause was also hindered by one of the most hilarious sendings off I’ve seen for some time – substitute striker Abdelkader Ghezzal got booked within a minute with a silly shirt-pulling and then gained his second yellow about fifteen minutes later with one of the most blatant and idiotic handballs you’re ever likely to see. His attempts to persuade the referee he should not have been dismissed were comical in their audacity.

Slovenia weren’t different to what we expected them to be per se, but they were a little underwhelming. I expected to see a greater understanding of their own game, a more organised, compact and productive performance, but instead they were simply ordinary. Captain Robert Koren was gifted his goal by a ludicrous mistake by Faouzi Chaouchi, equally as bad as Green’s last night, but this time the mistake was one everyone could have seen coming after Chaouchi’s poor all-round game, in which he constantly tried to overdo the most simple of goalkeeping duties.

The score was no different but Serbia 0 – 1 Ghana was a much more interesting affair, although Serbia, one of my dark horses, were disappointing. Beanpole Nikola Zigic did his best to make things happen but Milan Jovanovic on the left had a poor game, failing to cut inside with any purpose and therefore preventing Aleksandar Kolarov from breaking successfully from left-back. Playmaker-winger Milos Krasic was anonymous too, and much of Serbia’s creativity was expected to come from him. Zdravko Kuzmanovic ran Ghezzal pretty close in the Idiot of the Day stakes with a similarly moronic handball that led to the Ghanaians’ penalty, converted excellently by Asamoah Gyan to win the game, when seeing out a draw seemed achievable for ten-man Serbia.

Ghana put in a pretty decent performance, and they will have been pleased that their makeshift central midfield of Anthony Annan and Kevin-Prince Boateng had a relatively comfortable match in which to work on their partnership. I think they will still hope that Sulley Muntari is fit and ready in time to face Germany later in the group, though, but with Australia up next for them they have a great chance to qualify now.

Speaking of Germany v Australia, I guess the questions over the inexperienced German side have largely been answered with a fantastically assured performance by Joachim Loew’s team. Mesut Oezil completely ran the show, particularly in the first half, with a display of dazzling creativity that really caught my eye. Australia just couldn’t handle his clever runs from in front of their defence. My favourite bit of skill was the subtle pull back from a low Phillipp Lahm pass to play in Thomas Muller, even though Muller blasted over the bar. Germany as a whole were exciting and made a mockery of the odds that some bookmakers have been giving them to win the tournament (16-1 at one stage). Loew sensibly used his second-half substitutions to rotate his strikers, some of whom were out of form, and now they should all be in good confidence going into trickier games against Serbia and Ghana. Certainly Germany have put in the first really impressive performance of the tournament and promised a whole lot more as well.

Australia were of course hard done by, the Mexican referee giving their most important player Tim Cahill a frankly awful red card for an accidental collision that Cahill did a good job of pulling out of, but overall they didn’t really seem likely to compete with Germany at any stage, particularly without a recognised centre-forward for nearly 75 minutes. Josh Kennedy may not be much, but he is at least an aerial threat who could have made space for Cahill to play where he is at his best, behind the main striker. Pim Verbeek will now need to be more adventurous if his team are to recover, but without Cahill for at least the next game I think Australia are all but out.

Man of the Day: Oezil, without a shadow of a doubt. May well be my new favourite player. The only downer was his deserved yellow card for a needless dive early on.

Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to an exciting game between the Netherlands and Denmark that the Dutch should win, probably a draw between Japan and Cameroon, and I would also go for a draw in Italy versus Paraguay, with Paraguay maybe to sneak it. See you then.