Germany 4 Australia 0

Scorers: Podolski (Ger), Klose (Ger), Muller (Ger), Cacau (Ger)

Attendance: 62,660

This match was the first for the new generation of German footballers and one thing I noticed when I saw the squad for the World Cup was the fact no German footballer was plying his trade outside the Bundesliga.

They were going up against an aging Australia, this was said to be their last chance of any glory before Australia would have to take a leaf out of Germany's book and find a new generation of players and it was the old folk from down under that had the first chance after 3 minutes, Lucas Neill's header found Richard Garcia and his shot from 8 yards was blocked on the line by Lahm.

4 minutes later and it was Germany that took the lead.  Lukas Podolski was found running unmarked into the area and hit a ferocious shot that even though Mark Schwarzer managed to get a full hand on it the ball still found the back of the net.

Germany took a hold on the match from here and Australia struggled to make any impact, the German defense was just to well orchestrated, in fact after 23 minutes Germany should have made it 2-0. Podolski made a run down the left, whipped in a cross and somehow Klose missed from 3 yards but it wasnt long before Germany did make it 2-0.  A long ball upfield from Philip Lahm and the Australian goalkeeper was in no mans land and Miroslav Klose made amends for his earlier miss by heading in.  From here it seemed to be game over already.

Germany seemed to be toying with the Australians and ready to score at will and in the 30th minute Mesut Ozil flicked the ball over Schwarzer and the ball seemed to be going in but Socceroo captain Lucas Neill managed to clear and keep Australia in the game.

The second half began with a booking for Lucas Neill who managed to knee Klose in the back and 3 minutes later they had a penalty appeal turned down.  Mertesacker looked to have handled but it was accidental and the Mexican referee was right to turn the appeals away.

In the 55th minute Tim Cahill slid into Schweinsteiger in what looked an innocuous challenge but the referee Marco Antonio Rodriguez obviously thought otherwise as he showed Cahill the red card effectively killing the game off for Australia.  From this moment the Germans smelt blood and attacked the Australian defence at will.  Mark Schwarzer earned his money tonight.

67 minutes Germany made it 3-0.  Great interplay by Klose and Podolski who played in Muller who kept his composure and put it past the desparing dive of Schwarzer, now it was time for the Germans to introduce Brazilian born striker Cacau and within 2 minutes he scored with his first touch tapping in from 3 yards out scoring his first goal for his adopted country.  Was there to be more embarrasement for Australia. All 4 German strikers had scored today so Joachim Low obviously thought it was right to introduce a 5th.  Mario Gomez replacing Ozil.  Could he complete a full set of strikers scoring? Unfortunately not but woith this performance tonight Germany have proved their many doubters wrong.  They will be a force in this World Cup.  An amazing performance.

Germany: 1. Neuer, 3. Friedrich, 6. Khedira, 07. Schweinsteiger, 8. Ozil, 10. Podolski, 11. Klose, 13. Muller 14. Holger Badstuber, 16. Lahm, 17. Mertesacker

Subs Used: 19. Cacau, 21. Marin, 23. Gomez

Australia: 1. Schwarzer, 2. Neill, 3. Moore, 4. Cahill, 5. Culina, 7. Emerton, 8. Wilkshire 11. Chipperfield, 13. Grella, 16. Valeri, 19. Garcia

Subs Used: 14. Holman, 15. Jedinak, 17. Rukavytsya