FFA U-16 and U-17 technical director Peter de Roo fired a warning shot to those who have already written off the Joeys.
The Joeys kick off their FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile campaign tomorrow morning at 6.00am AEDT against Germany, and de Roo had a blunt message for those who were underestimating the Australians.
“The Germans are beatable,” de Roo said.
“They’re a very good side – you don’t make the UEFA European U-17 Championship final if you’re a bad side – but we’ve analysed footage of at least eight games.
“We’ve seen their strong points, and their weak points, and we definitely see opportunities and weaknesses that can be exploited.”
Germany came runners-up in the 2015 UEFA European U-17 Championship, losing to France 4-1 in the final in Bulgaria.
They went through the group stage undefeated, scoring seven and conceding none.
Among the German squad list are players currently contracted to Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen, and other Bundesliga powerhouses.
De Roo said taking the game to Germany was the key to getting a result.
“The one thing we can guarantee is that we will be playing the Australian way, and with the Australian mentality,” de Roo said.
“We definitely don’t want to make the Germans look better than they are.”