footballspectator

Lukas Podolski was the German hero on Saturday, producing two early goals to send Germany through to set up a mouth-watering quarter final match up against Argentina.

A match which on paper seemed difficult turned out to be a breeze. In truth the Swedes, much like their star player Zlatan, have been disappointing in this tournament, the one exception being their second-half performance against England. Their cause was not helped by the dismissal of Teddy Lucic with ten minutes of the second half remaining, but by that time they were already 2-0 down. Further misfortune was to follow when the normally clinical Henrik Larsson skyed his penalty.

From then on it was one-way traffic. Ballack was very impressive, pulling the strings in midfield and both he and Schneider hit the post. Podolski should have had a hat-trick. The team has grown since their nervy opening performance against Costa Rica. However, they now come up against their first major stumbling block – Argentina. Now we will find out how good they really are.