Germany and Ecuador set the pace in Group A
Germany 2006 got off to a flying start today. The first match saw hosts Germany take on Costa Rica at a sunbathed Allianz Arena in Munich. Bayern’s Philip Lahm scored an early contender for goal of the tournament in the 6th minute following a defensive slip up from Costa Rica. However, Paulo Wanchope soon equalised for Los Ticos beating a poor offside trap to slot past Jens Lehmann, who frankly could have done better. An unmarked Miroslav Klose converted a cross from Bastian Schweinsteiger to put the Germans ahead and made it 3-1 in the 61st minute. Wanchope again beat the offside trap to give the Costa Ricans hope at 3-2, but an 87th minute stunner from Torsten Frings made it 4-2 and gave Germany the 3 points. The Germans will have to show a marked improvement in defence if they are to progress - their “offside trap” was more an open invitation to score and opposing forwards will be rubbing their hands in anticipation.
In this evening’s match at Gelsenkirchen, Ecuador defeated Poland 2-0. The match was poor and the Poles even worse, although they were unlucky to have a goal disallowed in the first half. Ecuador took the lead through a Carlos Tenorio header following Agustin Delgado’s flick on from a throw in in the 24th minute and Delgado himself made in 2-0 three minutes from time, to hand the Ecuadorians only their second victory in World Cup history. Both teams look unlikely to progress far on tonight’s evidence however.
