A decisive battle and the tournament's first PK

Today’s battles were anything but boring.

After Slovenia took the lead in Group C after defeating Algeria, Ghana and Serbia took the field in what many people believed to be Group D’s battle for second place.

The game was probably the most exciting game thus far in the tournament, as the play action was back and forth for the entire first half. Serbia didn’t really deserve to lose the match, they played hard, they played well, but were handed some unfortunate circumstances in the second half.

The Serbs defender, Aleksandar Lukovic, was handed a second yellow and sent off the pitch leaving Serbia with 10 men to finish the match. Zdravko Kuzmanovic then handled the ball in the box, giving Ghana the first penalty kick of the tournament, which was struck fiercely into the back of the net by Asamoah Gyan.

Serbia could not recover, and Ghana lead the race for second place in Group D.

This match was followed by what some journalists were calling the “battle of the boring”, given Germany’s history with defensive play, and Australia coach Pim Verbeek’s current defensive structure of his squad.

But this match was anything but boring. Australia was immediately on the attack, looking to score first and state their intentions about being the second team to qualify in Group D. The Germans, however, had a different agenda, and piled four goals on a vulnerable Socceroos’ defence.

Tim Cahill was handed the tournament’s third red card, leaving the Socceroos struggling to keep up with Germany’s surprising pace.

After today, I am definitely adding Germany to my “one’s to watch” list, as they showed passion, pace and prowess in their victory – proving everyone wrong who thought they would be too young to pose any serious threat.

Mark my words, they are definitely a serious threat.