JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — “Germany have never before played like this,” exclaimed Franz Beckenbauer yesterday as he looked forward to his compatriots’ semi-final with Spain in Durban tomorrow.

The Germans, despite having an average age of just 25, have swept through to the last four after thumping England and Argentina and now the ‘Kaiser’ thinks they can land a fourth world title.

“The way they play, their style, is fantastic. Everybody on the move, wanting the ball — the team spirit is tremendous.

“Nobody in Germany expected to see them play so well. The players deserve this,” said former winning skipper and coach Beckenbauer.

“You have to go back 20 years to a see a team as strong a German side as this, playing so well — when we won the title in 1990,” he added.

“This is historic — you can always count on Germany,” added Beckenbauer.

“We do not have players such as Pele, but there is this sense of being ready to fight, tactical awareness and also the capacity to concentrate to the maximum for the World Cup.”

Germany have been remarkably consistent with runs at least to the quarter-finals since 1954, the year of their first title.

Beckenbauer singled out the showing of muscular midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who took Argentina to the cleaners with an imperious showing in the 4-0 win.

“Schweinsteiger has had an exceptional season — he is the new superstar, the best player at the World Cup right now.”

Alluding to the multicultural element of this year’s vintage with players of Polish, Turkish, Ghanaian and Brazilian origin in the team, Beckenbauer said: “This team shows the new face of Germany thanks to (Mesut) Ozil, (Sami) Khedira, (Jerome) Boateng… who were not born in Germany but who have a German passport.”

Beckenbauer also forecast Germany would see off Spain to book a final with the Dutch — as was the case when he was German skipper in 1974.