Der Kaiser, who has not held back in his criticism of England throughout the World Cup, had more harsh words about Fabio Capello's men after Germany's convincing 4-1 victory.

"England were overwhelmed - they just could not come to terms with our style of play," he said.

"We have taken England apart. We were simply better in every aspect."

Matthew Upson had given England some hope with a goal which made it 2-1 before the break, after Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski had put Germany 2-1 up.

It should have been 2-2 just seconds later when Frank Lampard's lob cannoned down off the underside of the crossbar and over the line.

However, unlike in 1966, the goal was not given and a Thomas Muller double put the seal on a comfortable win for Germany.

And Beckenbauer was relieved that Germany had added two more goals to render that Lampard strike insignificant.

"The linesman really has to see the that goal which was not given," he said. "It was a clear goal.

"Fortunately, we added two more, otherwise there would be a lot more discussion about it."

Gunter Netzer, who won the World Cup for Germany in 1974, rejected calls for the use of goal-line technology as a result of the controversial moment.

"Despite this goal, I am firmly against video evidence," he told Germany's ARD television.

"As bad as it was, football is all about drama; football is not perfect. Even footballers make many errors and that is what brings emotion to the game."

While the discussion over the introduction of technology is bound to rage on, Beckenbauer was eager to point out that Germany coach Joachim Low should also be given credit for his nation's win.

"We thought before the game that it was going to be a tight one, but you can see Joachim Low's signature on this," he said.