Germany 8 Saudi Arabia 0
Klose, 20, 25, 69; Ballck 40; Jancker 46; Linke 73; Bierhoff 84; Schneider 93

First off, a note about the Sapporo Dome. These kind of closed stadia should NOT be used in these kinds of competitions. It was awful; like watching snooker. Secondly, if FIFA are concerned about the empty seats yesterday, what are they going to have to say about the empty seats today? What do they expect though, when the tournament is held in such "remote from the rest of the world" venues?

To the nitty-gritty though. WHAT WAS THAT????? Heck, it's bad enough feeling forced to watch Germany play on a sunny Saturday afternoon - but nobody warned us about Saudi Arabia! That is the worst performance from any team I have ever seen! They didn't tackle, they didn't close, they didn't play - they were absolutely HOPELESS! A question to Mongolia, Vietnam and Bangladesh, "how on earth could you lose to SA - didn't you have any boots?!?!" And they are so frail looking - the Germans appeared as giants by comparison to these spindly little creatures. Every time a German came close to one (not often, as it wasn't required), you imagined seeing the word *SPLAT* coming up on the screen!!! Don't they eat? Well it was just awful and I think we only hung around in the hope that perhaps the Japanese would turn off the air conditioning and that all the players would, one by one, fall asleep - or suffocate! :)

Coach, Nasser Al Johar, has been promised that he'll keep his job "no matter what". I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were him and I'd watch out for my hands and feet too!!! Picture courtesy of www.legodeath.com

Tragic, absolutely tragic. What's more, a German could very well pick up the Golden Boot because of this!

Teams

Germany: Kahn, Frings, Linke, Metzelder, Ziege (booked), Schneider, Ramelow (Jeremies 45), Hamann (booked), Ballack, Jancker (Bierhoff 66), Klose (Neuville 77).

Saudi Arabia: Al Daeyea, Tukar, Ahmed Al Dossari, Zubromawi, Sulimani, Noor (booked), Al Owairan (Ibrahim Al Shahrani 45), Abdallah Al Shahrani, Al Temyat (Al Khathran 45), Al Jaber, Al Yami (Abdallah Al Dossari 77).

Att: 32,218

Ref: Ubaldo Aquino (Paraguay).

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