Germany are the first team we’ve seen this World Cup that look like they could win it; Argentina and England have been unconvincing in different ways, but Germany strolled this match with a combination of ruthless efficiency and attractive, flowing football. Very easy on the eye. Australia were a pale shadow of the team that impressed so much and were a dodgy dive away from taking Italy to penalties in 2006. You could argue Germany were good because Australia were so poor, but equally Australia were poor because Germany were so good - especially with their movement off the ball which denied the Aussies any space or time to get rhythm going. The referee didn’t help matters with a very harsh sending off of Tim Cahill, whose foul on Schweinsteiger was heavy but not dangerous.
Equally, the Germans looked very comfortable with the much-maligned Jabulani ball - cue conspiracy theories that as their kitmaker is Adidas, who also make the ball, so they’ve had more time with it. The truth is slightly more complicated - the Jabulani has been available for a year and has been used in various tournaments such as the African Cup of Nations and the FIFA World Club Cup, and clubs in the Bundesliga (which does not have an official ball) whose kit is made by Adidas have been using it since January.
So no wonder they might be a bit more adept with it. But this isn’t cheating - there was nothing stopping the Premier League adopting the Jabulani last season to get the players acclimatised to it - except of course for a lucrative contract with Nike to make the Premier League’s official ball. Such is the joined-up thinking by the men in charge of football - but then our national team coaches continually refuse to practice penalties despite a shocking record losing shootouts, so a lack of preparedness is really not that surprising.
