Axis infantry should be a priority early game, KT and all heavies are easy to take care of if they have no infantry support.
I know that, we did figure this one out during our 3vs3 play with friends, but the point is if you fail to kill/wipe a number of Volks/Obers/Sturm and any other OKW infrantry, the end game will be horrible and filled with KT's, and to acomplish this feat you need the fast sherman (IMO) and delaying this sherman is gg.