Dominant Germany maul Australia

     

Germany gave a devastating display of their nation's traditional power on Sunday to overrun Australia and Ghana were the toast of Africa after taking the continent's first victory in its inaugural World Cup.

Before the match, Australia's compact defence was tipped to give the youngest German team for three quarters of a century trouble in their match in the tropical city of Durban, but the dominant youngsters left Australia floundering and took the most convincing victory of the tournament so far.

They scored their first goal through Lukas Podolski in only eight minutes and went on to plunder one more in the first half and two in the second, sending a stark warning of their intent to the other top teams.

Image: German players celebrate after scoring a goal
Photographs: Reuters