Germany Stroll Through

Two early goals from Lukas Podolski sent the host nation Germany safely through to the quarter finals after a comfortable 2-0 win over a 10-man Sweden.

The Germans were by far the better side when it was eleven men each but a second yellow card to defender Teddy Lucic allowed them to stroll through the remainder of a match that will give them plenty of confidence ahead of a tough quarter final tie.

Jurgen Klinsmann was able to name his first choice line up with Metzelder returning at the back, while Sweden took a risk in bringing back Zlatan Ibrahimovic in place of the unfortunate Marcus Allback.

The pressure was certainly on the home side in front of expectant Bavarian fans and they duly took the lead after just four minutes.

Ballack fed Miroslav Klose on the edge of the area whose superb turn opened up space, and although Andreas Isaksson got down well to deny him the ball fell to Podolski who struck home via a deflection for an excellent start.

The positive approach continued for the hosts with Podolski and Ballack firing strikes wide from distance and before long Klinsmann's men would have further reward.

Podolski found Klose well who confidently drew three defenders before cleverly touching back to his strike partner, the recent Bayern Munich signing comfortably finishing first time to double his side's lead.

It was one of the more one sided halves of this World Cup with chance after chance falling to Germany, one particular diving save from Isaksson from a Klose shot proving vital in keeping the Swedes in the contest.

Schweinsteiger did have half the crowd celebrating after another long range drive but it had deceptively gone past the post and ruffled the net from behind the goal.

The situation rapidly got worse for the Swedes after Teddy Lucic received a second booking for tugging the shirt of the impressive Klose, and Lagerback's team would have to stage a miraculous comeback with 10 men.

Sweden now had nothing to lose and when Ibrahimovic brilliantly worked some space down the left he fed Larsson who was hacked down from behind to give his side a penalty and a way back into the contest.

Up stepped the former Celtic icon himself but perhaps perturbed by the extended wait to bring Wilhelmsson on for Jonson, Larsson blazed wildly high and wide from 12 yards and the Swedish fans surely knew now they were heading out of the tournament.

Michael Ballack had played well without really putting his imprint on the encounter but tried to rectify that with a terrific long range effort that was marvellously tipped on to the post and away by Isaksson.

The German skipper continued his shoot on site policy throughout the second stanza and as the match entered the final stages the Sweden no. 1 could only parry yet another Ballack attempt, but Klose's instinctive header flew over.

Then after a flowing passing move Bernd Schneider's strike cannoned back off the upright, but the game was already over as a contest by now and the Scandinavians were already thinking about the plane trip home.

In the end one got the feeling the Germans could have won by as many as they wanted, however the 2-0 score line will do for Klinsmann as they prepare for a tricky quarter final with either Argentina or Mexico.

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