England's keenly-awaited clash with arch-rivals Argentina is unlikely to fill the futuristic Sapporo Dome stadium to its World Cup capacity of 40,000 on Friday, much to the chagrin of long-haul fans and local organisers, but it will at least be certain to generate more atmosphere than the eerie near-silence in which Germany destroyed the hapless Saudi Arabians on Saturday night.
Then, only the hundreds of German supporters in one section of the roofed, high-tech arena managed to raise the volume above the polite applause that punctuated the barrage as Rudi Voeller's team dismantled the "sons of the desert" with alarming ease.
Nearly one million households in football-mad Germany were also seething with frustration after missing seeing their national team enjoy their biggest World Cup win and the tournament's most emphatic for 20 years since Hungary crushed El Salvador 10-1 in Elche because of technical problems.
The problem arose because the struggling Kirch Group, which owns the World Cup rights, would not sell digital rights to Germany's public channels ARD and ZDF. To try to rectify some of the ticket sales problems, the Japanese organisers said yesterday that they were selling thousands of "unsold" tickets on the Internet to local fans keen to buy them at short notice.
None of this will bother the Germans any more, of course. They flew out of Sapporo early yesterday morning purring with satisfaction, but stressing that they now had to keep their feet on the ground after an aerial attack on the Saudis that left few defenders standing.
Voeller had demanded a total onslaught and his players delivered with six headed goals out of eight in a one-sided opening Group E game.
"That was just what we needed to do and we did it well," said goalkeeper and captain Oliver Kahn.
"It has boosted our confidence and it has also given all our rivals something to think about. It is good for us psychologically."
From outsiders, the Germans have emerged as potential quarter-finalists, or better, and Miroslav Klose, who headed a hat-trick to boost his international tally to 11 goals in 13 appearances prompted comparisons with the great Gerd Mueller.
Klose also provided the much-maligned Bayern Munich striker Carsten Jancker with a chance to help silence his critics with a delicious back-heel assist for the fourth German goal, while a fit-looking Michael Ballack also found the net as the Saudis capitulated in front of their goal-hungry opponents.
Saudi Arabia coach Nasser Al Johar, however, has not given up hope of making the second round. "We still have a chance to qualify because we have two games left and the people of Saudi Arabia can be assured that we will do our best."
They have lost their opening games of their previous two World Cups, against Holland in '94 and Denmark at France '98.
However, they still went on to qualify for the last 16 on their World Cup debut in the United States, but that achievement already looks beyond them on the evidence of this dismal display.
If they are to stand any chance, Johar will need to pick up his demoralised troops for their next game against Cameroon in Saitama on Thursday, and also for the clash with the Republic of Ireland in Yokohama five days later.
And he will be hoping they improve drastically on Saturday's display, where they failed to register a single shot of note on target during the 90 minutes.
GERMANY: Jeremies for Ramelow (46 mins), Bierhoff for Jancker (67 mins), Neuville for Klose (76 mins).
SUBSTITUTES
SAUDI ARABIA: Khathran for Al-Temyat (46 mins), Al Shahrani for Al-Owairan (46 mins), Al Dosary for Al-Yami (77 mins).
YELLOW CARDS
GERMANY: Ziege (43), Hamann (83).
SAUDI ARABIA:- Noor (91).
RED CARDS
None
