With Jens Lehmann goal keeping for Germany, Kahn is getting fat sitting on the bench. You can see why.

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

There are 56 days to go for the Fifa World Cup to start. In these 56 days, I aim to interview 32 fans for the 32 participating nations to get their perspectives. Impossible? Or at least very difficult to achieve this?

Where there is a will, there is a way! I ensue, thus, on an exciting journey. I hope you can enjoy the ride with me. Presenting Part 1 of the series.

I caught up with Benjamin, popularly known as Bense to get the German view. Bense writes in the World Cup Blog for Germany. He is 24 years old and is studying Economics in the University of Dortmund. A Mannschaft fan ever since 1990, Bense is going to volunteer both for the World Cup and his city during the World Cup. I thank Bense for agreeing for this interview.

What challenges has Germany as a country faced and how has it overcome them looking back as the World Cup is nearly upon us?

They came back after the disastrous Euro in 2000, Völler formed a younger team. After Euro 2004, Klinsmann took over and did the exact same thing, but for real. He keeps the younger players in the squad that might still have 10 more brilliant years with the team. That concerned quite a lot of people, because there is a lack of efficiency and veteran players. And of course, Germany couldn’t play any “competitive” games except for Confederations Cup, because they didn’t have to qualify.

What style of football does the national team play?

I’d say more technically skilled than before. As always, physical, cautious, basing on a good collective and team spirit.

What do you think your country’s prospects are?

It’s gonna be hard in the round of the last 16, but if we manage to win against England or Sweden, we’re gonna march on.

Who will be the most important player for your country?

The most important player right now is Ballack. He ain’t a leader but with his qualities, he can decide a game on his own.

Which player in your country’s side would you most like to get rid of?

Bernd Schneider. Too slow. To few goal shots. Too few creativity.

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Klinsmann gave a detailed interview to CNN ahead of the World Cup. With the Champions League final stages still not completed, the World Cup fever hasn’t caught the football world yet. But we are getting there.

Klisnamm talks on what the three World Cup wins have meant:

there was the oil crisis and the ’70s terrorism two years before, the Olympics in Munich that disaster and it was just perfect timing that they had that exceptional team right at the World Cup, when they hosted the World Cup, and looking back in the history of German football every time they won a big World Cup it was at a very special moment. The ‘54 World Cup was the first time the people got the recognition back after the second World War and felt like they are proud of something you know it brought people back together and you know now we can keep our heads up again. And then ‘74 as I mentioned and then the 1990 world cup was our team was the team of the reunification you know, so we were the team for both sides of Germany so now, you know throughout the last 16 years, we’ve melted together. And now comes the next milestone.

But Germany isn’t expected to win the World Cup. Brazil and Argentina are the strong favourites with people backing England as well. Other teams are underdogs in one way or the other. So Klinsmann suggests the team would be better in 2010:

certainly looking into the future and looking towards World Cup 2010 South Africa, Germany will be strong again.

Among the players, the interview just has talk on Michael Ballack which is a disappointment. I would have liked to know more on what Klinsmann thinks about other players, some deeper insight into the team. Over all it was a good interview but I wanted more out of it.

Germany will have a lot of pressure regardless of how good they actually are on paper. Teams can crumble or up their notch in this situation. Remains to be seen what happens with Germany.