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June 9, 2006
KLOSE'S BIRTHDAY BASH A BUST FOR TICOS
Klose celebrates 28th birthday with two goals in Germany's 4-2 opening win over Costa Rica
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Costa Rica's Ronald Gomez sends German goalscorer Philipp Lahm flying during Friday's World Cup opening match.
Photo by Tony Quinn |
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
Munich, Germany -- There’s never a dull moment with the German National Team.
But let’s give coach Juergen Klinsmann's some credit. His gamble certainly paid off on Friday night.
Klinsmann looked like a genius for not starting or even dressing star midfielder Michael Ballack for the World Cup opener.
Bothered by a strained calf muscle, Ballack watched in street clothes as his teammates registered an entertaining, 4-2 win over Costa Rica.
Forward Miroslav Klose, who led the Germans with five goals -- all off headers -- during their runner-up performance in 2002, picked up where he left off. He celebrated his 28th birthday in style, scoring twice before a capacity crowd of 66,00 at Allianz Arena.
The high-scoring match was perfect tonic for Klinsmann, who has been under close scrunity for his controversial coaching methods, lackluster results and that he had been commuting from his Orange County home in southern California to direct the team.
This is also the least talented of German World Cup teams for more than 40 years. Germany has captured the World Cup, soccer's biggest prize, three times -- 1954, 1974 and 1990.
"We saw an extraordinary opener and we wanted to make it attractive for a fantastic crowd." a happy and obviously relieved Klinsmann said.
It turned out to be the highest-scoring Cup opener over 18 tournaments in 76 years of the competition. The previous high was five goals in France's 4-1 victory over Mexico in the inaugural tourney in 1930.
Many Cup openers set the tone for the entire tournament. It will be interesting to see if other games follow suit.
"We can take a lot of positive things out of today," Klinsmann said. "This is fun."
It certainly was no fun for Ballack, who missed the 2002 World Cup final due to a yellow-card suspension. Earlier yesterday told a German newspaper earlier in the day that he was fit and was able to play.
"It was a shame for me not to be out there," Ballack told Agence-France Presse after the match.
Klinsmann, who himself scored for Germany in the 1994 WC opener in the United States, had the last word. He wanted to save the only world-class player he has for more important matches later in this competition.
"I had to tell him: 'Michael, there's a risk. You haven't trained for a week,' " Klinsmann said. "At the end of the day it's the coach's responsibility."
Team doctors told Klinsmann that there still was a slight strain. With at least two more matches ahead of the team and more challenges in the second round and beyond, Klinsmann did not want to take any chances, even if Ballack was the only world-class player he had. If Germany had lost or had not played well, Klinsmann would have been under fire once again.
So, it left it up to other players to grab spotlight.
The smallest player on the field -- 5-7, 137-lb. defender Philipp Lahm -- gave the hosts the early lead with a pretty goal in the sixth minute. The Bayern Munich defender picked up a loose ball on the left side, dribbled unscathed to the left corner of the penalty area and unleashed a right-footed shot that skimmed off the underside of the crossbar and past a leaping goalkeeper Jose Porras at the far post.
The Germans dominated the next several minutes, but could not get off a quality shot.
Costa Rica, however, got lucky on Germany's offside trap to equalize in the 12th minute on Paulo Wanchope's goal. Wanchope appeared to be offside on a through ball, but assistant referee Carlos Chandia did not see it. Wanchope raced in alone on goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who came out of the six-yard box to close down the angle. Wanchope, however, deposited a 14-yard shot past Lehmann for a 1-1 tie.
But it didn't take long for the Germans to retake the lead on a bang-bang play as Klose struck only five minutes later. This time captain and midfielder Bernd Schneider worked the ball out of the right corner to Bastian Schweinsteiger at the top right side of the penalty area. Schweinsteiger sent a hard pass toward the left side of the goal that found Klose. Klose slammed it home from three yards for a 2-1 lead.
Klose gave the Germans some breathing room with his second goal in the 61st minute. Tim Borowski started the scoring sequence with a pass to Lahm, racing down the left side. Lahm sent a cross into the box that Klose headed from eight yards. Porras made the save, but Klose slid the rebound into the net over a sprawled keeper.
But the Costa Ricans refused to die. Wanchope made it interesting in the 73rd minute as he latched onto a pass from Jervis Drummond, who had just came on six minutes prior, and knocked the ball past a dazed Lehmann for a one-goal margin.
"It was our own fault," Klose said. "We stupidly gave the ball away and they got goals against us. They did a good job. We've got to do a better job in defense."
But Torsten Frings -- the same man who should have been called for a handball in the area and a subsequent penalty kick against the U.S. in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals -- put an exclamation point on a memorable match with a scorching 33-yard bullet in the 87th minute that could wind up as goal of the tournament.
Klinsmann enjoyed the moment, but reminded the media that the team should not bask in its glory too long and must prepare for Poland on Wednesday.
"At such a mega event like a World Cup we've got to put this behind us quickly," he said. "They can have a little glass of beer tonight if they want but our focus has to turn right away to the next match no matter what happens."
Michael Lewis can be reached at BigAppleEdit@aol.com.
Costa Rica
Jose Porras; Luis Marin, Michael Umana, Gilberto Martinez (Jervis Drummond-65), Leonardo Gonzalez; Danny Fonseca, Maurico Solis (Cristian Bolanos-77), Walter Centeno, Douglas Sequeira; Paulo Wanchope, Ronald Gomez (Randall Azofeifa-89).
Germany
Jens Lehmann; Arne Friedrich, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Christoph Metzelder; Bastian Schweinsteiger, Torsten Frings, Tim Borowski (Sebastian Kehl-71), Bernd Schneider (David Odonkor-89); Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose (Oliver Newville-78).
Goals
Germany -- Philipp Lahm 6
Costa Rica -- Paulo Wanchope 12
Germany -- Miroslav Klose 17
Germany -- Miroslav Klose 61
Costa Rica -- Paulo Wanchope 73
Germany -- Frings Torsten 87
Discipline
Costa Rica -- Danny Fonseca (yellow card) 30
Attendance -- 64,950
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