complaints = Serbia and celebrations = Germany

here are the results of the Group D first round matches.



Serbia 0-1 Ghana
vuvuzelas. THAT is the name of the loud object that the Serbian players claim made them lose control of the World Cup ball, loss of concentration, and the main focal point: they blame the vuvuzelas for making them give away the 'stupid' penalty that cost them the game. well, at least that's what the players think. but coach Radomir Antic had a different gripe. he claims that what turned the game was the 'harsh' dismissal of Aleksandar Lukovic in the 74th minute. nine minutes after that setback, substitute Zdravko Kuzmanovic's raised arm struck a ball hit across the area to give away the penalty that put Ghana ahead. the penalty was coolly converted by Asamoah Gyan. whatever the case may be, Serbia weren't setting the football world alight, and they paid the price for poor football. OVERALL - could have been better. Serbia need to up their game in order to make it to the last 16.



Germany 4-0 Australia
''Australia not the banchmark. there will be more difficult opponents to play. so this was a good warm-up. we will be happy about this win.'' that is what Germany coach Joachim Loew has told his players after the match. whether the Aussies take that comment as an insult is another thing. back to the match, Australia were totally outclassed by a relatively youthful German squad. in fact, it is Germany's youngest squad for three-quarters of a century. either way, the fans didnt have to wait long for the goals to start coming. Lukas Podolski opened the scoring in the 8th minute, the second by Miroslav Klose(26), the third by Thomas Mueller(68), and rounded off by Cacau(70). it was just a beautiful display by Germany. Australia, on the other hand, were just underwhelmed. the defence was exposed and when going forward, there was a lack of creativity or ideas. talk about rubbing more salt into the wounds: Australia were forced to play with 10 men for the last half hour after Tim Cahill got his marching orders for a horrific tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger. OVERALL - superb display by Germany. they are the first team in this tournament to score more than two goals in one game. disappointing display by Australia. more was expected from them, but they let their fans down with that shambolic display.