Germany were clearly the better team coming in, I dunno what shit JDB talking about both teams being equal in talent. Germany have a wealth of options of front and have more cohesive mid-field play, even if we were to give Lampard and Gerrard the edge on individual talent over Ozul, Schweinsteiger Podolski et al... which is a dicey call. Let's not even talk about the defensive backline of both teams.
Me eh really care, I still supporting my side win or lose.
Talent is a measure of individual players. Clearly Germany are a better team but their is no gulf if you sum the individuals. For example so say that the defences are not comparable but Friedrich, Mertesacker and Boateng are not head and shoulders above Cole, Terry and Upson. But they play better together, and based on the first goal they obviously communicate better. Likewise Ozil, Podolski and co are more exciting prospects but the plays they make are no different to what England players do at their clubs or sporadically for England. England just is not a good enough team for the players to make each other better. That is why this England crop usually looks worse in a tournament setting than club and German players are the opposite. Part of it is mentality and the over-dependence on the crossball but they have the talent to do otherwise, they just don't do it.
This is nothing new for England and Germany. Neither of them are Brazil or Argentina in terms of ability but the Germans always outplay the English in the big games (with a few exceptions).
Germany is an excellent tournament team. When those players get into a 2 or 3 week camp you always see a marked improvement on the team that showed up in qualifying. They are more disciplined, more intelligent, more versatile and absorb drills and tactics better than most other players certainly better than England.