A very, very good German team toyed with the Socceroos sending them to a 4-0 defeat.
It was also a very young German team and with six different nationalities, it was also reflective of a new Germany. The Germans look the most complete team and if they continue this form, then Spain and Brazil have competition. Just like the last World Cup, the Germans wasted no time, playing attractive attacking football.
We talk about how Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have to measure up to their club record.
That never seems to be a problem for Lukas Podolksi and Miroslav Klose. They seem to revel in a Mannschaft uniform. Podolski, Klose, Thomas Mueller, and Cacacu scored with maybe another three to four close calls to really run up the score. Klose ties Juergen Klinsmann with 11 World Cup goals, second on the German all time scorer list, behind Gerd Mueller.
Mesut Ozil was outstanding. What a talent! He will be sought after by many. If Wenger is looking to pick up someone for a post Fabregas future, this could be the man. Sami Khedira made few miss Michael Ballack. Michael Neuer was not tested seriously and we have to wait for Ghana and Serbia for a more thorough check on the young goalkeeper.
The Socceroos lost Tim Cahill in the 56′ minute for a foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger. A rather harsh decision by Marco Rodriguez, which injected the first controversial refereeing decision to a World Cup that has so far been managed superbly by the officials. Without him in the next match, an uphill struggle for the Socceroos to get out of the group stage, just got harder.