I don’t usually like the style in which the Germans play their football. Add to that - (a) they were playing against a weak Costa Rica team and (b) the poor ESPN-Star preview for the World Cup, I was deflated soon after I switched on the TV set. Harsha Bhogle is a good cricket presentor but why bring him to football. The commentator for the opening game was also pretty drab - the player looks up in the blue sky as he scores.

There was gloom given the history of low scoring dull matches we have seen for inaugral matches for the world cup historically - only 9 goals in the previous 10 matches. The six goals in the opening match then, exceeded my expectations. Germany were playing more attacking football than they usually do, Wanchope provided excitement for Costa Rica. I did not like the game as much despite the many goals. However, given my early deflated spirit, I was more than happy with match 1. The big pointer from game 1 was this though - Germany let weak Costa Rica score twice. The German defense was shown up in this match and it is a big worry for them for the tougher matches in the second round.

The second match for the day proved brilliant. It is, in all likelihood, the most crucial encounter for the group with the winner, in all possibility, advancing as the second team along with Germany. The opening 20 minutes or so saw Poland dominate attack. However, Ecuador kept pushing and thwarting the Polish attacks physically if there was even an hint of the Polish coming near the Ecuador box. Then, Ecuador scored. The match changed significantly from then on with Ecuador playing one touch football and being the team which kept attacking. They could have scored 2 more goals during a short period had the strikes materialised. The first half, thus, can be split into two.

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The opening day sees, if you have been living under the roof, the following matches:

• Germany vs Costa Rica [Sky]
• Poland vs Ecuador [BBC]

Do drop in a comment while you are here..

My predictions:

Germany 2 Costa Rica 0
Poland 1 Ecuador 0

For the Ecuadorian interview, I caught up with Dennys Burgos. Burgos is a college student in the Hotel Management field, born and raised in Toronto, Canada by two hardworking and loving folks from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Dennys loves to play the beautiful game, of course. Dennys is highly enthusiastic about travelling as well and looks forward to trips to Germany, Korea, Japan, Latin America and Europe.

Over to the intervew.

Tell us a bit about Ecuador’s football history and the football culture which exists.

Very well. As many people may know, Japan/Korea 2002 was Ecuador’s first ever appearance in a World Cup finals. Many people expected they would not get very far, but they did exit on a high note, defeating Crotaia 1-0 through Edison Mendez’s thunderous volley. Historically, Ecuador was once considered the minnows of South American futbol along with Venzezuela.

With that said, it is not to say Ecuador have only recently become a respectable side. On 2 occasions, they have missed out of the big dance by very small magins. Their club sides, especially Barcelona de Guayaquil and LDU Quito have performed well in the Copa Libertadores, the South American version of the UEFA Champions league, with Barcelona de Guayaquil coming out finalist on 2 occasions. The country has showed excellent progress, and by qualifying once again, have proven to their critics they were not a fluke.

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