GERMANY 4 ARGENTINA 0:SATURDAY MORNING in a cab through Cape Town and the Zimbabwean taxi driver summed up the state of chassis that the football world is in. He would much rather, he said, see Germany win the afternoon game with Argentina because they are just so much more exciting.
A few hours later he had his wish and we were coming to terms at last with a new world in which Germany, so long the strolling, grinding percentages players of the world game, have turned into something akin to riverboat gamblers. On Saturday on the waterfront where two oceans meet, they took Argentina with the happy general Diego Maradona and the little genius Lionel Messi and they washed them away.
Germany scored four for the third time in this tournament. It could have been six, maybe seven. Argentina were left threadbare. Their defence in ruins, their attack incapable of anything but hopeful shots and unconsummated crosses.
Maradona, a growing feature of this World Cup, suddenly shrunk again before our eyes, tainting his exit with some graceless haranguing of German fans.
It was as recently as March that these two sides met in a friendly game in Munich which the South Americans dominated far more comprehensively than the 1-0 scoreline suggested. Beware the Ides and all that. Germany went back to the drawing board. Argentina cruised on oblivious.
Joachim Low’s side lost Michael Ballack, their one genuine marquee name, to injury on their way here. They arrived with a youthful team who looked to have the energy and zest to do well. They face Spain in a semi-final this week with a good chance of winning. They have such momentum now that it will be hard to deny them.
They won’t be afraid. On Saturday Javier Mascherano, Messi and Carlos Tevez and their supporting cast were all doused early. To the surprise of many it was Bastian Schweinsteiger, who is having a magnificent tournament, who became the game’s key player.
The game was still in its infancy when the tactic of playing Podolski wider than usual paid a dividend. Nicolas Otamendi the Argentinian full-back sliced down the German. Schweinsteiger floated a tantalising free-kick across and Thomas Muller appeared between the two centre halves to head it past Sergio Romero.
Argentina who had scored first in each of their previous games here toiled until half-time but by then we knew there would only be one winner.
We had expected Philipp Lahm to be occupied most of the day with containing Angel Di Maria’s threat from midfield. Instead he himself raided with virtual impunity and limitless energy. If he wasn’t on the ball he was galloping up the right wing and available for it, drawing the Argentinian defence out of the compact system they feel comfortable with.
Podolski represented a different sort of threat down the other flank but it was Germany’s width which kept Argentina guessing. In the middle Mesut Ozil had perhaps his quietest game of the championship so far but being in the shadow of Schweinsteiger occasionally is no long-term indictment of any player.
After Muller’s goal Argentina’s frenzied hint for an equaliser was as damning as some of their defending. Good chunks of possession led to no penetrative moves at all and the best chance in the remainder of the half was Miroslav Klose yanking a shot over the bar from 12 yards after more good work by Muller.
Briefly in the second half, Argentina fooled us into thinking that perhaps they could produce the moment of individual genius which might change the game. Otherwise they looked more and more like the team they were against Mexico, getting desperate and frustrated until the Tevez offside decision gave them a break.
They had no choice but to push on and as they did the words of the old nursery rhyme came to mind, “come into my parlour said the spider to the fly”. Germany were welcoming their opposition’s desperation knowing what it would lead to. Messi, Tevez, Gonzalo Higuain, Di Maria. All of them had chances, none of them gilt edged. Germany just waited.
Muller’s irresistible youthfulness brought about the next goal. Grounded, he forgot the professional footballer’s instinct to writhe in agony and instead hooked a ball in for Podolski who slipped it calmly to Klose. All over. The only fly in Germany’s ointment being a booking for young Muller which keeps him out of this week’s semi-final.
Schweinsteiger was at the heart of the third, his trickery leaving as permanent an impression as his calm dictation of the rhythms of midfield. He zig-zagged past three defenders before pulling the ball back for Arne Friedrich to finish.
The stadium by now appeared to have been annexed by Germany. Slender white and black scarves and German flags were everywhere. As was a sense of virtual disbelief as Maradona’s side staggered about in the arena like a wounded bull. Klose’s goal, in the dying moments, was the flourish of the cape and the picador jab which laid them to rest.
