Oliver Kahn - saluted the fans.

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Most German fans expected their team to be coming home from the World Cup early, but it turned out to be just four minutes ahead of schedule and the crowd waiting for them was anything but cynical.

The flight carrying the German team from their final defeat by Brazil in Japan touched down in Frankfurt at exactly 4.39pm local time, and the fans waiting for them were exuberant as they provided a noisy welcome for a team which made a mockery of pre-tournament predictions of an early exit.

The team delighted its fans by making in to the final, only to lose to the favourites, and around 30,000 gathered outside Frankfurt's city hall to congratulate the players and management.

Captain Oliver Kahn, who received the Lev Yashin award for the top goalkeeper at the tournament, paid tribute to the fans who had turned out.

"This is overwhelming. You have carried us through the World Cup," said the Bayern Munich stopper.

Coach Rudi Voller admitted he felt a little abashed at the extent of the welcome given the final defeat: "I am a little bit embarrassed to be welcomed like this without winning the Cup. What would have happened if we won it?"

Two German players who emerged as potential world stars of the immediate future, striker Miroslav Klose and defender Christoph Metzelder, were astonished by the level of enthusiasm.

"It is sensational what is happening here," Klose said as he climbed aboard the team bus, while Metzelder said he had never imagined so many would turn out to welcome the team home.

Central defender Carsten Ramelow summed up the team's delighted reaction: "This is absolutely mad, what is going on here?"