Germany down the Netherlands 3-0 at soccer friendly

Germany defeated Holland 3-0 on Tuesday in a friendly involving two of the favourites for next year's European Championship finals.

The 2010 World Cup runners-up were sunk by goals from Thomas Müller, Miroslav Klose and Mesut Ozil in front of a sellout crowd of 51,500 in Hamburg.

Müller put Germany, who finished third at the World Cup, in front after a lightning-fast attack in the 15th minute.

Toni Kroos sent in a high cross to Klose and he tapped the ball for Müller to beat the goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg with a shot into the corner.

Klose claimed his 63rd international goal 11 minutes later, latching on to a centre from Ozil to head home powerfully. The striker is now five goals short of Gerd Müller's record tally of 68 for Germany.Germany sealed the first victory since 1996 against the Netherlands attributed to a faultless performance by the German team against lax Dutchmen in front of home crowd in Hamburg on Tuesday.

Germany staged from the start offensively minded soccer whereas the Netherlands seemed idealess throughout the match. With only 14 minutes into the match, Germany opened the scoring after a terrific combination when striker Thomas Mueller finished the assist from Miroslav Klose.

The "Elftal" was shocked by the early deficit so that Germany were able to double the lead only ten minutes later when top striker Klose headed home a cross to mark his 63rd goal at 113 international caps.