Well, that was easy. Behind an offensive onslaught and two goals from 21-year-old Lukas Podolski, Germany dismembered Sweden, 2-0 in the opening match of the second round.

Both of Podolski’s goals came in the first half, and both were the result of brilliant passes from striker Miroslav Klose. The second half was sluggish and boring, with the only excitement coming from a missed penalty kick by usually sure-footed Henrik Larsson, who did a Baggio and rocketed it high over the goal.

With the assault the Germans put on the Swede goal this morning – 26 shots, 11 shots on goal – expect the cacophony of Jurgen-for-Bruce to reached DEFCON 2 by Monday morning.

If Germany is able to defeat Argentina in Berlin Friday … whoa, we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

Liveblog: Germany vs. Sweden (World Cup Blog)