Thaindian News

Melbourne, Jun 14 (ANI): Germany thrashed Australia 4-0 in their opening FIFA World Cup campaign in Group D late on Sunday at the Durban Stadium.

Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose scored goals in the first half before Thomas Mueller and Cacau doubled the goal count in the second period.

Australia was left to rue missing the first chance of the game, when Philipp Lahm cleared a close-range effort by Richard Garcia in the fourth minute, FOX Sports reports.

To add to the worries of the Australians or Socceroos, Cahill, the hero of Australia’s 2006 World Cup campaign, was sent off with a straight red card in the 56th minute for a late challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Australia captain Lucas Neill was unhappy with the dismissal, saying “it’s a nothing challenge, yellow would have been enough.”

Australian coach Pim Verbeek said: “Yellow not red wouldn’t have helped us that much. When we go down 2-0 and then lose a man, of course it’s going to be tough to come back.”

“We still have two games left. So we have to forget about this game and look forward,” he added.

Podolski opened the scoring in the ninth minute. Klose, top scorer in 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, made it 2-0 in the 27th minute.

“Everything worked well and it is important that things went well in the first game. We have earned some respect. You could see that we had fun playing football out there. I know what I can do. I feel great,” he said. (ANI)