Dismissing media reports that Ballack had criticised his attacking strategy with a public appeal for more emphasis on defence, Klinsmann said his captain's views were welcome and aimed at the team as a whole and not anyone in particular.

"What criticism?" Klinsmann said after his team kept a clean sheet in their final World Cup warm-up before the hosts open the tournament on June 9 in Munich against Costa Rica.

"It's absolutely a good thing when the players express their opinions.

"Our problem has not been the defence per se, but the transition back to defence from up front and from midfield. We wanted to play more compact in midfield and we did here."

Klinsmann said the return of defender Philipp Lahm had helped immeasurably and hinted that he has finally settled on a line-up with Lahm, Arne Friedrich, Christoph Metzelder and Per Mertesacker.

"We're delighted that Lahm was able to play almost the whole match," he said after the Bayern Munich defender had missed much of the training camp during the last three weeks due to an elbow injury that is now in a plastic cast.

"It went very well and that was an important part of the match.

He's fully able to go after the ball without fear. That gives us confidence. The defence did a good job. I'd say they all have a good chance of playing (the opening match)."

Metzelder said Klinsmann's tireless support had been invaluable -- especially as he has spent much of the last season only as a reserve at Borussia Dortmund.

"We've faced a lot of criticism, some of which was justified," Metzelder said. "It's incredibly important to have a coach like that behind you who trusts you blindly. It's been a difficult year for me in Dortmund.

"But I always got complete support from Klinsmann."

Colombia coach Reinaldo Rueda said his team, who have not qualified for the World Cup, had taken the match a bit too lightly after they beat Poland 2-1 on Tuesday.

"We didn't play well and maybe we took it a little too lightly," he said.

"Germany pressed us hard. They didn't let us get into our short pass rhythm and made us try long passes, which we unfortunately were not able to do very well."