Equador surprises, Costa Rica wilts

Carlos Tenório converted the flicked-on header of Agustin Delgado after 24 minutes, surprising the Poles, who despite numerous opportunities could not score. Delgado scored the second after 80’. Equador 2 – Poland 0.

Photo: Equador surprises, Costa Rica wilts

The result shows that pre-match favouritism means nothing in World Cup finals – the last game resulted in a Polish victory by 3-0. With a difficult game against hosts Germany, Poland began its campaign in the worst manner possible, while Equador showed some moments of good football and promises to go far.

In the other game, Paul Wanchope raised the hopes of the Latin American team Costa Rica but only for a few moments, after drawing 1-1 with Germany.

Philipp Lahm opened the scoring on 7’ and Wanchope drew after 12’, before Miroslav Klose re-established the lead. Klose scored his second after 61’, celebrating his 28^th birthday in style. Walter Centeno provided the pass for Wanchope to once again skip through the German defence after 73’ but the final score, 4-2, was fixed by Torsten Frings with a spectacular shot at the end of the game.

Germany, with three points and an advantage of two goals from their first game, began their tournament in the best way possible, while Costa Rica, despite showing mettle and breaking the German offside trap twice, will have to improve their defence substantially if they want to go through to the second round.

GRUPO A Next games:

14th June Germany – Poland

15^th June Equador – Costa Rica

20th June Equador – Germany and Poland – Costa Rica

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru