A double from striker Miroslav Klose on his 100th international appearance, along with goals from Mueller and defender Arne Friedrich ensured the convincing win over a lacklustre Argentina.

"It's insane to beat Argentina 4-0. It's hard to find the words for a result like that," Mueller told German television after the match. "I think Germany is quaking right now and that's the right way to celebrate this."

Man-of-the-match Bastian Schweinsteiger added: "That gives you goose bumps seeing the way people are celebrating at home.

"We may have to play Spain next -- they're the best team in the world, in my view. But we're good enough, we believe in ourselves."

German coach Joachim Loew said his team did "everything nearly perfectly", praising the defence for neutralising the threat from FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi.

"What the team showed today in terms of determination to win was the sort you would expect from champions, also the ambition they showed, the speed and attacking tempo we showed in the second half, it was absolute class," he told reporters.

"We were highly disciplined, but we were also willing to put in the extra effort."

The Argentines, with playmaker Messi often stifled by two or three defenders, never really looked like getting into the match.

"We just had a bad game. If you make mistakes like that, you go home," Argentine forward Carlos Tevez said. "We knew they could be dangerous on set-pieces and on the counter-attack."

Reuters