On air: Germany's great start

I reckon the ref was biased to the Germans. For starters, Klose was offside (and in a position to interfere) when Germany's first goal was scored. And Cahill was sandwiched by the two German players when he fell on Swinelager. A yellow card would have sufficed. The jury's still out on the Germans.

Since primary school in the late 60s, I have been watching the World Cup matches. I noted there are only two teams who can maintain composure under pressure and very business-like in winning matches. They are the Germans and the Italians. The Germans epitomised this stoic character in the 1970 World Cup when Beckenbauer with an arm in a sling played on, to win the finals. The Italians, despite despondency in Serie A's match-fixing scandal, were able to wind-up the French and win the 2006 World Cup in the penalty shoot-out. There were other examples, but, these two are the most outstanding.

sayasay, you may have been watching since the late 60s, but Germany won in 1974 (on home soil) not 1970, which was the classic Brazil v. Italy final in Mexico.

And are these the the same 'pressure resistant' Germans who capitulated so easily to Croatia in France'98, and were easily beaten by Brazil in 2002 and Italy in 2006? For sure, as an England fan I would have loved to have seen England do this well in the last three WC tournaments, but luckily for the Germans, they don't have the English FA running (or should that be ruining???) their National game.

In yesterdays game, the Germans flattered to deceive. Impressively 2-0 up (although, as mentioned, it could have easily been given that Klose was interfering for the first goal), but even against 10-men, they weren't so overwhelming against a pretty tame Aussie side. We'll wait and see what happens over the rest of the games, but they play Ghana last, so will have probably qualified for the next round by then anyway.

Why the hate against Germans? Because they have the indomitable spirit to fight on against all odds? Because they played, after South Korea, the only other real game of football at this WC? Grow up England supporters. The English team is mediocre.

And Slvrsrfr, Klose was NOT offside, since he was passive. My neighbour is a football coach and he pointed out as much. As for Cahill's red card, while the act itself was not red-worthy, I doubt one Tim Cahill would have made a difference. As it is, he was asking for it, the rough player that he is. The way the Aussies roughed up New Zealand meant that bad karma was gonna strike, and she did so with a vengeance. Germany were worthy winners and played with quite some flair. Accept it.

Milind, I've no hate against the Germans at all, in fact I've been living here in Germany for 13 years and am married to a German girl! And I don't see anywhere in my previous post anything about 'hating Germans' ???

I just gave three recent examples of where the Germans did not show such an 'indomitable spirit to fight on against all odds' as you so nicely put it.

And sorry, but from TV replays, Klose was clearly in an offside position, the question is whether he was passively interfering or not.

# 4 Milind Pania

Congrats - well stated.

I think the "hate" is not so much hate but frustration and envy. However successful the Germans may be - there will always be numerous England fans trying to "spit into the soup", because for decades Germany has been so much more a football power than their team:
- 3 x world cups
- 4 x runners-up
- 3 x 3rd
- 1 x 4th .
Always qualified since 1954 (not admitted in'50).
Eliminated England in three world cups (and in one Euro on own soil BTW).
Against that England fans find themselves almost empty-handed.
Makes it hard to "keep a stiff upper lip", isn't it?

I think that Australia were unusually poor, but partially due to a strange team formation for the game. I do not think that the refereee was biased, but he was definitely incompetent on the night. He missed the push in the back on Cahill on the first half inside the penalty box, and the hand ball in the early minutes if the 2nd half, both these were critical moments in the game which could have changed the flow of the game. The final piece of incompetence was Gahill's send off which killed the game as a competitive spectacle.

Havng said all that, Germany were good. Not great, as I believe Australia gave them far too much space and time on the ball.

Lastly, I hope Freddie Mercury's love child is not given another game by FIFA.

and the

Today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the leading German language newspaper, carries an interview with Horst Hrubesch, the early 80's Hamburg and national striker. As coach he led the current youngsters such as Oezil to European Championships U19 and U21 in recent years. Not at all surprised he simply and soberly affirmed that with the young squad gaining more comfort in two more group games they should convince themselves that they can play and win against anyone for the title this year. Beyond the British general media radar another strong generation of footballers arises beyond Blighty. Why after all the debate of late is there such a lacklustre system of raising young, skilled, talented player? Why do Premier League Clubs and the FA squander so much to gain so little for England? Methodic analysis, proper planning and swift execution, otherwise we see another two decades of unfulfilled longing.

I don't think Cahill's challenge should have been a straight red, that completely ruined what could've been a more even second half as Australia did look like they were maybe about to enter into the game a bit more. Having said that Germany played well and did something which England doesn't seem to be too good at - scoring goals! If England do end up playing Germany in the next stage I don't rate our chances of success to be very high at all. So far Germany have been the most impressive team at the tournament and in my opinion England has been one of the most disappointing with only Gerrard, Heskey and Glen Johnson putting in any sort of effort at all. Really hope Capello lets Joe Cole play on Friday, he always puts 110% in.