Cape Town - Germany manager Joachim Low was left absolutely delighted by his team’s emphatic 4-0 win against Portugal at the Fonte Nova Arena on Monday night.
Germany have been semi-finalists at their last two World Cup campaigns and expectations are that Die Mannschaft will be able to cross the finish line at this year’s tournament, primarily because what was initially a young and inexperienced team has transformed into a formidable force.
Low understands that the expectations are high and, even prior to Monday’s match, he had every intention of meeting those expectations and more.
"It was an excellent first match, we had no option but to win," Low told journalists this week.
"We were clinical in finishing our chances, we had four goals from about six chances," added Low, who has always insisted that the Germans had prepared for all eventualities ahead of this year’s campaign.
"The team played well and didn't let Portugal have many chances. We played at high pace in the first half to get our chances," added Low.
Prior to the match against Portugal, there had been much talk about the threat that Cristiano Ronaldo posed and Low was even prepared for that. Naturally, the German manager was satisfied with the manner in which those plans were executued.
"It's important to prevent Ronaldo from getting a run going because he's very dangerous then," he concluded.