World Cup: Group A: Germany 4 - 2 Costa Rica (original) (raw)

A player fondly remembered in England for his incorrigible waywardness gave Germany a fright in a spirited opening to the 2006 World Cup last night. The host nation scored four times to get their campaign off to a rousing start but the ease with which Paulo Wanchope bagged his brace of goals asked uncomfortable questions about the quality of Jürgen Klinsmann's central defenders.

If Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder continue to impersonate a couple of statues, Germany will need to score four goals in every match. Against Costa Rica the quota was met by Philipp Lahm and Torsten Frings, whose long-range strikes were the bookends to the game, and Miroslav Klose, who scored five goals in the 2002 tournament and got off the mark with a couple last night.

All the evening's entertainment was contained within the 90 minutes, the usual nonsense of an opening ceremony only briefly redeemed by a parade of representatives of all seven winning nations: Nilton Santos, Zito, Amarildo, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Clodoaldo, Dunga and Bebeto of Brazil, Breitner, Völler and Matthäus of (West) Germany, Bergomi and Antognoni of Italy, Villa and Ardiles of Argentina, Desailly and Petit of France, Hunt, Hurst, Ball and the Charlton brothers of England and two members of Uruguay's 1950 squad.

Germany and Costa Rica had never met before last night and in front of just under 60,000 fans in Munich's new stadium they were expected to defy historical precedent by opening the 2006 tournament with a display of decent football. And in the end there was no doubt that they delivered.

Michael Ballack provided the pre-match talking point when he withdrew from the line-up with a calf strain before his agent apparently let it be known to Germany's biggest tabloid that he would, in fact, be playing. In the end he did not appear on the teamsheet but hung around the dug-out in the warm-up, wearing his team tracksuit.

In his temporary absence Klinsmann handed the captaincy to Bernd Schneider, the experienced 32-year-old winger from Bayer Leverkusen and another veteran of the last World Cup final. Ballack's role as the creative hub was taken by Tim Borowski, the gangling 26-year-old Werder Bremen midfielder.

To his club-mate Frings, the successor to Jens Jeremies as a hard-tackling defensive midfield player, went the distinction of committing the first foul of the 2006 World Cup when he brought down Walter Centeno just inside the German half with barely 30 seconds gone. Two minutes later Frings also hit the first shot of the tournament, sending a 25-yard drive dipping over José Porras's bar with the aid of a slight deflection. It was a foretaste of the swerving drive with which, 85 minutes later, the same player would complete the night's scoring.

But it was another defender who set the match alight with a marvellous goal in the sixth minute. The Costa Ricans sensed no danger when the diminutive Lahm took possession wide on the left before cutting inside and, still 30 yards out, unleashing a right-foot drive that curled over Porras's vain leap and inside the far angle. Germany were looking likely to increase their lead when Costa Rica struck back.

In the 12th minute an incisive three-man move transferred the ball to Wanchope, who beat the offside trap with the leggy nonchalance familiar to the supporters of West Ham, Derby County and Manchester City before striding clear to sweep the ball past Jens Lehmann.

With a shirtsleeved Klinsmann gesticulating and shouting encouragement from the technical area, Germany regained the lead in the 17th minute. Schneider made ground down the right and cut the ball back to Bastian Schweinsteiger, whose run into the area drew the defence and made space for Klose to touch home his cross-shot at the far post.

Lukas Podolski opened the second half by driving narrowly over from 20 yards but Costa Rica missed a good chance to equalise in the 48th minute when Danny Fonseca made an unseen late run to meet Centeno's corner and, completely unmarked, headed wide of the far post.

Centeno, Costa Rica's clever No10, was ceaseless in his efforts to find a path for Wanchope and Ronald Gómez through the German rearguard but the hosts increased their lead in the 61st minute when Lahm's long cross from the left was met at the far post by Klose's head. Parros made a sprawling save but could only parry the ball back towards the striker, who rammed it home from four yards.

Centenos's probing paid off in the 73rd minute when he bypassed the centre- backs with a clever ball that encouraged Wanchope to stride in and flip the ball over the plunging Lehmann. But when Frings lashed the ball home from 30 yards with three minutes left, it was the cue for wild celebrations among fans for whom the incessant criticisms of Klinsmann's regime will, for the time being, be set firmly aside.