Jurgen Klinsmann was refusing to get carried away after Germany’s 7-0 thrashing of Luxembourg in a World Cup warm-up on Saturday.

The hosts, who next face Japan on Tuesday, received the perfect confidence booster with a double apiece from Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski.

But Klinsmann cautioned that whilst welcome the result was only the latest step on the road to the finals.

“We’ve still got a lot of work in front of us and we have to prepare ourselves to face opposition of a totally different quality to Luxembourg,” the German coach told a press conference here Sunday.

“If we want to compete in the seven matches leading up to the world title there’s still a great deal to do; Saturday’s game was a good little match, but it was only a stage along the way.”

Klinsmann was pleased with the way Klose and Podolski teamed up so effectively - with the pair revealing afterwards that they comunicated in Polish during the game.

“Both of them are making progress each time they play together: Lukas likes to have a player who tells him what to do and Mirsolav is such a player.

“I’m certain that it’ll get better and better between them,” he said.

Podolksi, speaking about his good rapport with Klose, said: “The important thing is not that we talk in Polish but that we complement each other.”

Germany will face a far stiffer test of their claims on the 2006 World Cup when they take on Zico’s Asian champions Japan in Leverkusen before their final prep against Colombia on Friday.

The hosts open their World Cup campaign against Costa Rica on June 9.

Source:Soccer News