Rudi Voller believes his side actually improved when they were reduced to ten-men following the dismissal of Carsten Ramelow in Germany’s 2-0 win over Cameroon.

“Cameroon were the better team in the first half as they were creating most of the chances and giving us problems with their speedy strikers,” he said.

“But once we went 1-0 up we got better and better and dominated the match.

“At the beginning we had serious problems, the pressure was on as we were the favourites.

“Strangely enough, it was only when we went down to ten men that we began to play good football and get to grips with the pressure. We were able to control the game with a man less.

“We also changed from a three-man to a four-man back line and that worked much better. In the second half we controlled the game just as we had intended to,” Voller added.

“I am very happy to have got into the second round of the World Cup, where there is very little difference between the teams. It’s a great weight off our shoulders,” he concluded.