Day three of the 2010 FIFA World Cup saw the introduction of a German side that many pundits were once again writing off. Do they never learn? No matter how bad the German side appear to be, they usually come good just in time for the World Cup. It’s their most irritating quality, and this year was to be no exception.

An Australian team that were so far out of their depth you have to wonder why they bothered to turn up, were pulled apart with ease by a fluent German side. The Aussies were outplayed across the pitch. Although they had a couple of notable chances, the Germans dominated and passed the ball around them with ease.

Two goals either side of half-time for the Germans fails to tell the whole story. 4-0 may sound like a hammering, but it was no less than the Aussies deserved. If anything, it probably should have been more.

Whether this gives us an accurate read of how good the Germans are is debatable. The standard of opposition was clearly below that of your average World Cup team, and most of the 32 teams competing would have given Australia a similar hammering last night.

Elsewhere, Ghana beat Serbia 1-0 and in England’s group Slovenia got lucky against Algeria in what was a truly dismal display of football. Algeria had been the better team for much of the game, but after receiving a soft red card, Slovenia got lucky with a tame effort from range that ultimately decided the outcome of the game. Judging by the standard of football on display, England should have no problems advancing from this group.

2010 WC predictions update

Yesterday saw the final game in round one of TSS’ World Cup prediction league and the first ‘yellow cap’ which is awarded to the player who wins an individual round goes to MadFerret who finishes round one with 9 points.

Madferret narrowly beat Matt BB who finished second on 8.75 followed by TinyEight in third on 7.25 points.

A better day for yours truly, but I’m still way down the pecking order in 15th. I picked up points for both the Germany and Ghana victory, but had Algeria down to beat Slovenia so scored nothing for that match. TinyEight is the only Australian in our pool, but even he didn’t fancy his nations chances predicting a 2-1 defeat against the Germans.

Don’t forget that round two of the TSS World Cup prediction league starts today so members need to get their predictions in before the first game kicks off. Anyone wishing to join TSS’ World Cup prediction league can sign-up at SportGuru.co.uk now. During registration, the form asks for a Pool ID; Here you should enter ‘harmboxy‘ to join TSS’ league.