BACK to Berlin, then, for a German side that continues to surprise and delight like a decent album from a band you'd given up on. They were fun here yesterday, picking Sweden off at will like they were scamps in an orchard.

That the scoreline didn't end up with a bit more oomph to it was down mostly to the agility of Sweden's goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson, in itself as much of a slap on the back as you need to give the Germans.

Make no mistake, there had been a very real fear that it would all end yesterday. The joy of being in Germany these past few weeks is that it's been draped in both sunshine and optimism. The three wins from the opening three matches had even cleansed most of the caution from the optimism but for all that, few doubted that the sunshine was only going to hang around for as long as Jurgen Klinsmann and his men did.

But if the history of the World Cup has told us anything, it's that you should never write off the sunshine.

It beat down raw and relentless here yesterday but Germany found the perfect way to counter it, taking a 2-0 lead early on and holding on to possession without having to hare about for it. Sweden, by contrast, chased shadows from whistle to whistle without reward, losing Teddy Lucic to a harsh sending-off late in the first half and losing hope to a skied Henrik Larsson penalty early in the second.

Those two early goals were what called the shots for the day, though. Both made by Miroslav Klose, both finished by Lucas Podolski, both with a little hint of Michael Ballack in there just to sweeten the dish. The first, on four minutes was started by a clipped pass from midfield by Ballack but it was Klose's turn inside Lucic that turned it from water to wine.

He span like an American football running back and was straight through on Isaksson in a trice. The Swedish keeper dived at his feet to bring him to a halt but the ball spun clear to Podolski, whose shot from the edge of the box took only a slight detour off a Swedish head on its way in.

The Allianz Arena went orbital.

And within 10 minutes, we were inter-galactic. Again Ballack started it off, again it was Klose's industry and guile that set it up and again it was Podolski who finished off, this time running on to his strike partner's switcheroo inside pass to lash a clean strike home.

Much more of this and the Germans will have an honest-to-goodness double act up front and with the likes of Ballack and the classy Bernd Schneider prompting from behind, could be proper contenders. Who knew, eh? Only the old-timers, is who.

Sad to say, that was pretty much as good as that and we were only 12 minutes in. Both the yellow cards that ended Lucic's tournament could have been forgiven by another referee but his departure came on 35 minutes and with it, Swedish resistance went.

Not that there was very much of that to speak. They'd had a spell right at the end of the first half when first Zlatan Ibrahimovic had drawn a save from Jens Lehmann and then Lehmann flapped at a Larsson cross to leave Philipp Lahm to tidy up on the line but other than that, they were demoralised and deadbeat.

Germany, for their part, kept probing away but a lot of their shots were from distance and, although crisply struck for the most part, served only to keep Isaksson and his woodwork busy.

So Klinsmann and his band keep the show on the road.

For a guy who most thought spend his retirement doing adverts and keeping fit, this is turning into a hell of an encore.

GERMANY Lehmann, Freidrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm, Schneider, Ballack, Frings, Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Klose Subs Borowski for Schweinsteiger, 72 mins; Neuville for Podolski, 74 mins SWEDEN Isaksson, Jonson, Mellberg, Lucic, Edman, Linderoth, Alexandersson, Kallstrom, Ljungberg, Ibrahimovic, Larsson Subs Hanson for Kallstrom, 38 mins; Wilhelmsson for Jonson, 51 mins; Allback for Ibrahimovic, 72 mins Referee Carlos Simon (Brazil)