Germany sound ominous warning

Germany served notice of their intentions at the 2010 FIFA World Cup with an impressive 4-0 victory against Australia in Group D.

Lukas Podolski opened the scoring early on in Durban, the striker sweeping in Thomas Müller's cutback from the byline, before Miroslav Klose claimed his 11th World Cup finals goal on 26 minutes. Any hope the Socceroos had of mounting a comeback disappeared when Tim Cahill was shown a straight red card on 56 minutes, paving the way for Germany to add further gloss to an already dominant showing courtesy of strikes from Müller and Cacau.

Joachim Löw's team were quickly into their stride and carved Australia open inside eight minutes, Mesut Özil sending Müller clear and Podolksi powerfully turning in the FC Bayern München man's pass. Klose then squandered a chance to double the lead after being teed up by Podolksi but made amends soon after with a towering header from Philipp Lahm's centre, the striker beating the attempted punch of Mark Schwarzer for his 49th international goal.

Lucas Neill prevented a third when he cleared Özil's clipped effort off the goal line as Pim Verbeek's men struggled to contain the attacking verve of a dominant Germany side. Brett Holman fired narrowly wide for Australia five minutes after the restart but their early momentum was halted entirely and the game ended as a contest when Cahill was dismissed for a sliding challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

As if they needed any invitation, Germany ruthlessly took advantage with two goals in as many minutes midway through the half. Müller claimed his first for his country with a neat finish off Schwarzer's right-hand post after twisting inside the challenge of Scott Chipperfield, while Cacau – less than two minutes after replacing Klose – finished off Özil's square pass from the left. Next up for Germany is Serbia in Port Elizabeth on Friday, while Australia will seek a response against Ghana on Saturday.