Highlights - Germany 4-0 Australia Germany coach Joachim Loew insists there is more to come from his side after their impressive 4-0 demolition of Australia in Group D on Sunday. Lukas Podolski got the three-time champions up and running, before goals from Miroslav Klose, Thomas Mueller and Cacau wrapped up an emphatic victory. "We can get better. In terms of closing the space between defence and midfield, we were too defensive," said Loew. "But we can be very satisfied, happy and confident with the performance." It was unarguably the finest team performance of the tournament so far as Germany put a poor Australia side to the sword, even before the Socceroos went down to 10 men thanks to Tim Cahill's dismissal. The Everton midfielder was handed a straight red card by referee Marco Rodriguez for a clumsy challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger on 55 minutes.  | We have earned some respect. You could see that we had fun out there |
By that stage Germany were already 2-0 up - and it could have been more had it not been for some profligate finishing and Mark Schwarzer's resistance in the Australia goal. "I am very happy about the performance, we showed some quick passing and good speed," added Loew. "It was very important that we won because we gained a lot of self confidence. "Our defence was excellent, they performed very well and I was very happy with our counter-attacks. "It's always great to see that my team can implement my tactics on the pitch. From beginning to end, Australia was rather defensive and we had to change our attacks. | DAVID BOND'S BLOG |
"I thought we did very well and we scored very nice goals. "We can now hope to make the last 16 with just one more win. All players were very, very focused. We did many things right but this is just the start. "We have to keep our concentration. We want to reach the last 16 stage at least." And Germany striker Lukas Podolski believes his side's win served warning of their threat at the World Cup in South Africa. "Everything worked well and it is important that things went well in the first game," said the striker, who took his tally of international goals to 39 in Durban - the same number of goals he has scored in the Bundesliga. "We have earned some respect. You could see that we had fun out there." The win means Germany top Group D on goal difference ahead of Ghana, who beat Serbia 1-0 earlier in the day. And it is Serbia next up for Germany, in Port Elizabeth on 18 June at 1230 BST.
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