Breakthrough: Lukas Podolski celebrates scoring Germany's openerLook out England, Germany are waiting. The three-time champions put on a superb exhibition against Australia last night that will have sent a shudder of apprehension throughout the rest of the world.
Joachim Low's young, largely inexperienced side has been overlooked as serious contenders for the trophy in South Africa, but there will be a hasty revision of that view after this awe-inspiring display.
The Germans scored four against Australia, but they could have run up a cricket score. It was merciless, surprisingly flamboyant and completely effortless throughout.
The bad news for England is that they could face Germany in the last 16 if either side finishes second in their group.
And on this evidence, it won't be Low's men scraping through to the knock out stages.
Even more ominously, Low believes his side will get even better.
'There is still room for improvement,' he said. 'Our defence was excellent, they performed very well and I was very happy with our counter-attacks. But in terms of closing the space between defence and midfield, I felt sometimes we were too defensive. We will work on this.'
He's still got it: Germany's Miroslav Klose heads home Germany's secondWhile England players often shrink in stature when they pull on the international shirt, the Germans just seem to grow in composure and confidence.
Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose provided ample proof of that as, having struggled to find goals at their respective Bundesliga clubs, they both hit the target in this rout and looked liberated by the opportunity.
The Germans were accused of betraying an all-too-familiar arrogance in the build up to this game when new skipper Phillipp Lahm, taking over the armband from the injured Michael Ballack, declared that Germany 'wanted to embarrass opponents with their playing skills'.
It turned out to be anything but arrogance. The Germans were utterly true to their word, ripping asunder a desperately unambitious Australia with a superb first-half display. Werder Bremen's Mesut Ozil orchestrated the destruction.
The 21-yearold son of Turkish parents announced himself on the international stage with an impressive range of passing and clever tricks.
Flashpoint: Tim Cahill was shown a red card for his tackle on Bastain SchweinsteigerMesut means 'happy' in Turkish. Not for Australia, it didn't. The show silenced the Aussies' noisy travelling army.
Durban had become their base camp as tens of thousands descended on the brand-new Moses Mabhida stadium, outnumbering the Germans by three to one. Having proved the surprise package of 2006, reaching the last 16 under Guus Hiddink, his successor Pim Verbeek was essentially asking the same squad to repeat that feat.
As ever, Australia had to lean heavily on the Socceroos' star, Tim Cahill.
The Everton striker had recovered from a neck injury to take his place. But, although there had been prematch talk that ex-Liverpool and Leeds man Harry Kewell would start after overcoming persistent groin trouble, Verbeek declined to gamble on his match fitness and opted for a cautious 4-2-3-1, which soon became a futile 4-6-0.
It was an indication of Australia's lack of attacking power that Hull City's Richard Garcia, a product of the West Ham academy, was leading the line.
Stroll in South Africa: Thomas Mueller puts Germany 3-0 up He was in the same youth cup winning-side as Michael Carrick and Joe Cole, but while they went on to multi-million pound career moves, Garcia drifted. Not a selection to exactly strike fear into the German camp, but their pragmatic approach was designed to cling on and catch the opposition on the break.
The first chance fell to Australia, as Cahill pounced on a corner only to see his header ricochet off teammate Lucas Neill.
Garcia picked up the rebound, but his shot on the turn was blocked. It was the briefest of flurries.
Having survived that scare, Germany seized the initiative. Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was called on to parry a low Klose drive that merely proved a sign of things to come.
A delightful pass from Ozil freed Thomas Muller on the right. He timed his run to beat the offside trap, pulled a cutback diagonally across the area and Podolski's shot blazed high into the net off the palms of goalkeeper.
endofvid[starttext]Post content here [endtext]Icing on the cake: Cacau notches Germany's fourth soon after coming on as a substitute The Germans were cutting the Aussies open. Midway through the first half Ozil set Podolski free on the left this time, yet Klose somehow slid the low cross wide.
The Aussies had no answer.
A deep centre from Lahm challenged Schwarzer again, but this time the Fulham 'keeper was found wanting as he was left stranded in no-man'sland and Klose climbed ahead of him to head into an empty net.
The Aussies were struggling to salvage some pride.
In the defensive panic, Neill scooped Ozil's cheeky chip over Schwarzer off the line and they staggered to half time, relieved to be just the two goals down.
Worse was to follow. In the 56th minute Cahill was shown a straight red for a tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger, but it was a poor decision by the Mexican referee.
It effectively ended the contest, not that it had been much of one before then.
Muller added a third in the 68th minute, cutting inside Scott Chipperfield to finish, before substitute Cacao fired in a fourth moments after coming on for Klose.
GERMANY (4-2-3-1): Neuer 7; Badstuber 7, Mertesacker 7, Friedrich 7, Lahm 8; Khedira 8, Schweinsteiger 8; Podolski 8 (Martin 81min), Ozil 9 (Gomez 75), Mueller 8; Klose 8 (Cacao 69, 7). Booked: Ozil, Cacao.
AUSTRALIA (4-2-3-1): Schwarzer 6; Chipperfield 5, Neill 6, Moore 5, Wilkshire 5; Grella 5 (Holman 45, 6), Valeri 6; Garcia 5 (Rukavytsya 64, 5), Culona 6, Emerton 6 (Jedinak 75); Cahill 5. Booked: Neill, Moore, Valeri. Sent off: Cahill.
Man of the match: Mesut Ozil.
Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico).
source: dailymail
