JULIO Cesar saved the first shot. But he was helpless to do anything with the rebound.

As the ball went in, Miroslav Klose reeled off in celebration. He didn’t perform his traditional somersault but he was crowded by his team-mates as soon as he scored.

“I was hit during my goal so there was no chance to do a celebratory flip,” he said after the game.

Klose scored the second goal in Germany’s 7-1 thumping of Brazil in their World Cup semi-final at the Estadio Mineirao on Tuesday which helped him set the record for most goals at the tournament.

Having started the game level with Brazilian legend Ronaldo on 15 goals, the 36-year-old Lazio striker once again showed his predatory instincts inside the penalty box.

know more: Record-equalling Klose salvages draw for Germany

“I was ready when the ball came to me and I was able to score which makes me really happy,” he added.

Toni Kroos put a through ball in the 23rd minute at the Mineirao which Thomas Mueller backheeled to Klose to set up the former Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen and Kaiserslautern striker.

“I can’t grasp what happened. I don’t know what to say,” Klose said. “You could see in training that the team harmonises greatly.

“We are one unit and you can see that in the pitch. It was so important that our set-pieces work.”

Klose though may not enjoy his record for long. His team-mate Mueller is closing in quite quickly after he notched his 10th World Cup goal by scoring the opener on Tuesday.

At 24, Mueller can expect to play at two more World Cups at least while this will be Klose’s last tournament.

Like Klose, Mueller also expressed surprise at the ease of Germany’s victory.

“You couldn’t expect that at all but you can see on that how different games can develop,” he said. “The spaces were bigger today than against defence-minded teams.

“We benefited from that overwhelmingly, at one point you have broken the opponent. Now we have to keep pushing, give full power and get the cup.”

Mueller was in the German side which lost in the semi-finals at the last World Cup in South Africa. Klose, meanwhile, will be playing his second World Cup final.

He played the 2002 World Cup final which Germany lost 2-0 to Brazil before suffering a semi-final exit in 2006.

Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has been with the team since 2006.

Now one of the stalwarts of the German team. he believes that this is Germany’s best chance to win a first World Cup title since 1990.

“We’ve played a great World Cup,” Schweinsteiger told reporters after the match. “Any team that reaches the final deserves to be champion. For us this World Cup is a dream.

“It was a pleasure to play against Brazil. We did what we had to do but I’m a bit saddened by the [lop-sided] scoreline.”

Captain Phillip Lahm, meanwhile, said Germany cannot afford to fail in the final which would be against either Netherlands or Argentina at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium on Sunday.

“We’ve lost in semi-finals at the last two World Cups,” Lahm, who like Schweinsteiger made his World Cup debut in the 2006 edition, said.

“Now we must not fail in the final on Sunday.”

It was a view echoed by Lahm’s fellow defender Mats Hummels.

“This is really something special, what each individual has done,” he said. And we will now try with everything we have to have to make the big dream come true … of winning the World Cup.”

Published in Dawn, July 10th , 2014