German supremacy

Hapless Saudi Arabia beaten by eight

Miroslav Klose's three goals all came from headers. AP

SAPPORO, Japan (AP) -- Germany wanted a good World Cup start. It got more that it could ever hoped for -- an 8-0 rout of hopelessly overmatched Saudi Arabia and a flying opener that put the three-time champion immediately in firm in control of Group E.

The other group result also went the Germans' way -- an 1-1 draw between Ireland and Cameroon. Germany next plays Ireland on June 5 and Cameroon on June 11.

"I'm very satisfied with our performance," said German coach Rudi Voeller. "There was never been any doubt who the winner would be. The team was amazingly focused, everyone was motivated. It was clear from the beginning the Saudis would play defensive soccer, but we overcame them with our combination and technique."

Stat Summary Germany     Saudi Arabia  8  Goals  0  26  Shots  3  14  Shots on goal  1  22  Fouls  11  10  Corner kicks  1  2  Free kicks  0  0  Penalty kicks  0  4  Offsides  2  0  Own goals  0  2  Yellow cards  1  0  Red cards  0  53%  Ball possession  47%  31  Actual playing time  28     Attendance: 32,218      MATCH SUMMARY

"We have to stay firmly on the ground, we had a great performance against a weak opponent. But you could see the boys wanted it, everybody took responsibility, they had great spirit."

Striker Miroslav Klose scored three goals Saturday to help lead the Germans, who posted their largest margin of victory in the competition's history.

It's also the most lopsided World Cup victory since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982 in Spain.

Klose scored on headers in the 20th, 25th and 68th minutes to continue his good goal-scoring form. The 23-year-old now has an amazing record of 11 goals in just 13 matches for Germany.

Midfielder Michael Ballack connected on another header in the 40th minute, Carsten Jancker used his right foot to extend the lead just before the first half ended and defender Thomas Linke made it 6-0 in the 73rd. Oliver Bierhoff scored in the 83rd and Bernd Schneider converted a free kick in the 90th to close out the rout.

"It was an important three points, but we can't overrate it. We have to keep playing just like this," Ballack said.

"They gave up after 3-0, 4-0 and the easy goals came, but first you have to come out and play aggressively to make something like that happen," said the midfielder, who also had a good game after coming off a right-foot injury.

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The Saudis, Asian Cup runners-up two years ago and in their third straight World Cup finals, struggled all night against their more established opponents and never produced any serious scoring chances.

The German game plan was to rush down the flanks and send crosses for Klose to head -- and it worked to perfection.

Klose was coming off a three-goal performance in Germany's last international match before traveling to Japan, a 6-2 rout of Austria. The Polish-born player also scored 16 times for Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga this season.

Saturday's match was played indoors at the Sapporo Dome in this northern Japanese city.

Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohammed al-Deayea made his 169th international appearance, leaving him one short of the record held by Mexico's Claudio Suarez, according to FIFA.

Saudi coach Nasser al-Johar took responsibility for the loss and tried to be upbeat.

"I am disappointed and I am also responsible for this match," he said. "We still have a chance to qualify for the next round and we will promise our fans and officials to do our best in our next two matches."

Reaction Germans send message Saudi coach left to face music Klose silences critics

"We suddenly collapsed, this is not our team."

The win put Germany two points clear of Ireland and Cameroon.

In the group's next matches, Germany plays Ireland on Wednesday and Saudi Arabia plays Cameroon Thursday.

Lineups:

Germany: 1-Oliver Kahn (c); 2-Thomas Linke, 21-Christoph Metzelder, 6-Christian Ziege, 22-Torsten Frings, 5-Carsten Ramelow (Jens Jeremies, 46), 8-Dietmar Hamann, 13-Michael Ballack, 19-Bernd Schneider, 9-Carsten Jancker (Oliver Bierhoff, 66), 11-Miroslav Klose.

Saudi Arabia: 1-Mohammed al-Deayea; 3-Redha Tukar, 4-Abdullah Sulaiman Zubromawi, 12-Ahmed Dukhi al-Dossari, 13-Hussein Sulimani, 8-Mohammed Noor, 16-Khamis Alowairan al-Dossari (Ibrahim al-Shahrani, 46), 17-Abdullah Alwaked al-Shahrani, 18-Nawaf al-Temyat (Abdulaziz al-Khathran, 46), 9-Sami al-Jaber (c), 20-Al-Hasan al-Yami (Abdullah Jumaan al-Dosary, 76).

Referee: Ubaldo Aquino (Paraguay).

 

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