Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann claims Germany have restored their World Cup reputation after comfortably winning Group A.
Jurgen Klinsmann's men easily saw off an under-strength Ecuador 3-0 in their final Group A encounter and, after three wins in as many matches, they are full of confidence for the knock-out stages and the clash against Sweden on Saturday.
Lehmann said last night: "The respect is back, at least after today. And the tournament team myth is alive. We are quite confident and we know what we can do."
And the 36-year-old Arsenal keeper warned it is dangerous to write the Germans off - no matter what the odds might be.
"We are always capable of playing at a very high level," he said.
"Other teams could be more skilful or whatever, but sometimes they don't know how to perform, unlike us Germans - we know about our abilities and we want to perform at the highest level."
