The Germany test was a very interesting match in which Australia continued the approach from the Asian Cup with considerable success against the world champion.
The game should have been won, and it was great to see the buzz around the country yesterday after the match. That many made expressed disappointment at only taking a draw against Germany is a fantastic sign, which is absolutely true.
Tactically, the match was of great interest.
Australia demonstrated it is now making best use of its best quality, which is rare among nations: willingness to work extremely hard for the collective. This allows the Socceroos to take an aggressive approach against any opponent and still maintain defensive solidity as players cover the distances necessary from back to front and side to side, when the organisation is broken. Mark Milligan and Matt McKay in particular worked exceptionally hard to cover for the moments when Germany found the pass around the initial line.
In my view, we are now really getting to the heart of matching our physical qualities to a style of play.
There were two differences here when compared to the Belgium match, in which the philosophical approach was identical. First, Australia has become much more skilled at the counter-attack and the positioning required in defense to do so. Germany was not as skilled at passing its way through the press as Belgium. Australia's pressing organisation is also more effective now, after continued development at the Asian Cup.
Germany's back three played into this equation in the first half, allowing the Socceroos' attacking trident position to counter quickly (similar to the Netherlands match at the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup), as Leckie did to devastating effect against Howedes.
Leckie's speed is off the chart. When he slows his mind enough to improve his finishing and final pass, in a system that makes best use of his qualities, watch out.
Almost all of Australia's chances came from stealing the ball, with strong organisation, and attacking quickly. To have no goals from the counter-attack with with as many chances as we did is rare, and one of the reasons why the Aussies will feel they should have won this match.
When the ball is won, Leckie in particular has become very adept at immediately finding space behind defences and this cycle of 'press, win, attack quickly' is the key feature of the Socceroos today.
This closely replicates the evolution of the A-League, which is why organisation is so important and should be encouraged in the domestic competition. We need more organisation, order and system, not less, as some have erroneously argued recently.
The two goals scored are important because they were different from the overall game pattern, in which Germany was the aggressor with the ball and Australia the aggressor without.
Both goals came from the boot of Maty Ryan. For the first, he overcame the Germany press with a beautiful ball to Jason Davidson, after which Australia advanced up the field and, ultimately, took advantage of quick restarts with a throw in and cross. For the second, he found Ivan Franjic on the right with another superb pass before captain Mile Jedinak smashed in a ripper of a free-kick.
This should, once again, give those anti proponents of playing out from the back food for thought. We only scored twice because Germany tried to press and we broke it from the keeper, allowing space further up the field.
Australia was, however, a bit shaky with the ball in the first half, improving as the game went on. Germany's best chances actually came from the Socceroos having the ball and giving it away near the defensive line, which was the reverse proposition and allowed Germany to play our game for a moment. Marco Reus had several chances resulting from his team's press and scored from Sami Khedira recovering the ball and attacking quickly.
The other area where Australia's attitude and aptitude are well matched to the style of play is in defensive recovery when Germany attacked. Australia did extremely well to get numbers behind the ball quickly, meaning Germany had to try to find a way through packed areas around the box. Lucas Podolski eventually did.
In all, it was an excellent and very pleasing demonstration of where Australia is at under Ange Postecoglou post-Asian Cup triumph.
We were willing to run at Germany and apply the same approach as we did in the Cup: dangerous when pressing with great energy and speed, then racing to counter attack with great effect.
It is clear the Asian Cup period was a great benefit in forming deeper team understanding, although time alone is not enough without excellent work from the coaching staff. What's needed now is constant matches to maintain it and keep improving.
We should also see some more new faces for the Macedonia game on Tuesday (AEDT).
