Germany vs Australia

With a young squad and without injured Michael Ballack, Germany went on a scoring rampage.

Lukas Podolski opened its account in the eighth minute before veteran Miroslav Klose doubled the lead before the half-hour mark.

Cheered by the numerous green and gold fans at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, the Socceroos showed more determination after the restart but saw its challenge take a fatal hit when Tim Cahill was shown a straight red card in the 56th minute following a foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Thomas Muller added Germany's third in the 68th minute before substitute Cacau got an easy tap-in less than two minutes after coming on as a substitute.

The result lifted Joachim Low's side top of Group D alongside Ghana, which beat Serbia 1-0 earlier in the day.

The Germans, who had not lost a group game since 1994, made Australia pay for its sloppy defending.

Low handed out-of-form Klose the lone striker's role and it proved a wise move.

The Socceroos had the better of the opening stages and came close to taking the lead in the third minute.

During a scramble in the area, Richard Garcia's close-range shot was blocked by Philipp Lahm.

The Germans responded shortly after, with an unmarked Klose surging inside the area and hitting a right-footed strike towards the centre of goal which the Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer parried away.

Podolski made no mistake seconds later. He got behind Muller's pull back from the right and drove the ball in from 15 yards. Schwarzer managed to get a touch on the ball but it went in.

Jason Culina could have restored parity in the 17th minute but he nodded high from Brett Emerton's cross.

Midway through the first half, Klose missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0.

The veteran got behind Podolski's cross and struck the ball wide from the heart of the area.

Klose made amends shortly after as he extended his team's lead in the 26th minute after sloppy defending by Australia.

Schwarzer came off his line and got to Klose just as the striker headed home from Lahm's cross from the right.

On the half-hour mark, captain Lucas Neill managed to clear Mesut Ozil's goalbound shot with Schwarzer already beaten.

Germany's Sami Khedira headed high over the crossbar as Germany went into the break after a near-perfect first half.

Australia coach Pim Verbeek brought in Brett Holman at half-time in the hope of sparking his team into life.

Holman tried to make an immediate impact but his diagonal shot went wide of Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer's far post.

Australia's hopes then nose-dived when Cahill was shown a straight red card for a tackle from behind on Schweinsteiger.

With one man short, Australia struggled to stop Germany's advances and conceded shortly after the hour mark.

Muller got away from his marker before lashing home a shot in off the post.

Australia had little time to react as Germany struck again two minutes later.

Ozil surged down the left and cut it back for the Brazilian-born striker to hit it past Schwarzer.