Miroslav Klose has admitted German fans did not know where their new heroes were going to come from a couple of years ago.

Germany have lit up the World Cup with a series of brilliant displays. Suddenly the likes of Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer are becoming household names across Europe, after barely being so on German soil a couple of years ago.

"A few years ago people kept saying that it was a shame there weren't any new generations coming through," Klose said. "They said we have no forwards and no creative midfielders. Everybody deplored that. But time has proved these people wrong."