Miroslav Klose, Torsten Frings, Paulo Wanchope, Phillip Lahm
Augustin Delgado, Carlos Tenorio
(Opening day heroes)
Nobody could have asked for a better opening day: 8 goals in 2 matches.
A fast, lively Germany beating a Wanchope led Costa Rica who gave them measure for measure in their counter-attacks 4-2.
And underdogs Ecuador upsets Poland 2-0.
Prior to this in 10 opening day World Cup matches 9 goals were scored.
In the Germany- Costa Rica opener 6 goals were scored. But the way Germany played has to hearten even the most dour Teutonic heart. We saw crisp shooting, great through passes by Schneider and Schweinsteiger, nice finishing touches through Klose and an attacking defence led by Phillip Lahm.
The only spots of concern was the defence that gambled a bit too much on the offside trap, letting Wanchope get away and score twice on the few occasions that the Ticos got. Their set pieces also looked a bit off but that is because Michael Ballack was missing in this opener. Podolksi looked impressive but one got the impression that he was trying to do too much but the lad is barely 20 and he will learn. The defensive unit has to gel better to get the offside trap going. But that was a concern for the Germans even before the match.
However none of the other teams look like scoring powerhouses, certainly not Poland. And so if Germany keeps the scoring going then the defence can get away with a bit of sloppiness. Not a whole lot. A bit.
In fact, the way Poland played has to give them comfort. Pawel Janas adopting the 5-4-1 formation on the eve of the World Cup proved to be too unsettling and the lone striker Magic Zurawski was MIA. Ebi Smolarek ran around like a headless chicken trying to put his foot on everything. And the Polish defence was the best thing that happened to the Ecuadorian strikers mistiming their passes and clearances aplenty, giving the ball away galore to the Ecuadorian strikers. Carlos and Edward Tenorio, Augustin Delgado, and Ivan Kaviedes just had to wait in the wings. In the last minutes the posts denied the Poles, not once but twice.
Meawhile the Ecuadorian defence was stout with Ivan Hurtado the pick. He put his body on the line and finally had to be replaced in the 80th minute after sustaining a series of body crunching tackles. The height advantage could not be exploited by the Polish strikers who were beaten in the air regularly.
Poland will have to pull a rabbit out of its hat to advance to the next round. They face Germany and Ecuador play Costa Rica next. If they both lose the second match then the White and the Red, and the Ticos will have plenty of time to drown their misery in Zwiec bier and Imperial cerveza.
As for the Ecuadorians they looked giddy but not from the surfeit of oxygen. And Klinsmann will be just a step closer to shutting up his naysayers. Magath, Hoeness, and Der Kaiser.
Tomorrow the Group B matches start with England vs Paraguay (9:00 AM EST); Trinidad and Tobago vs Sweden (12 noon EST); and Group C with Argentina vs Cote D’ Ivoire (3:00 PM EST).