Day One

The first day is over. The host nation has never lost the opening game, and the Germans continued this tradition--emphatically. Jurgen Klinsmann has the most difficult job in sports at the moment. Any manager of a World Cup squad faces criticism, but to be the manager of the host nation with such high expectations must be something. He has been criticized for living in the US, for marrying an American, for using American training tactics, for sending email messages instead of speaking in person...

In the victory over Costa Rica, he went from goat to hero to goat to hero in the first 16 minutes as the score changed. Even with the victory, there are still questions that Germans will raise. And perhaps rightly so. Germany won its first game in 2002 with an impressive 8-0 over Saudi Arabia. But they didn't impress throughout the rest of the tournament. Having said this, they reached the finals. Germans are capable of playing fantastic soccer. But they're also capable of taking the life out of a game. Previous German managers have noted that the World Cup is a marathon, a test of endurance and the road to the Cup is littered with elegant, creative teams who ran out of energy or lost because of one mistake (especially in the knockout stages). German teams, even those with less talent with their opponents, have a World Cup record surpassed only by Brazil (the one team whose elegance and creativity seems more than enough to overcome hurdles). Does anyone believe the German team in 1986 was more talented than the Platini-inspired Bleus of France? (There's an Adidas ad that cleverly shows Zidane and Platini paying mutual respects; imagine both of them in the same midfield). Following the memorable match in Guadalajara between France and Brazil, Les Bleus looked completely drained. Even their inspired play wasn't enough to overcome the German team. Newsweek magazine referred to the 1980s German team as "Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and ten robots."

Nonetheless, they reached the finals in 1982 and 1986, knocking out the French on both occasions (with Toni Schumacher horribly and literally knocking out Patrick Battiston in 1982).

Where was the steady, efficient, inexorable play of the Germans on the first day of the 2006 offering? Well, it was superceded by an attacking style that led to four goals. That's the good news. The bad news is that their defense looked suspect, getting caught on the offsides trap more than once. As one of my soccer viewing friends points out, the offsides trap is dangerous not only because players can get it wrong, but also because the linesman can get it wrong (and probably did so on Costa Rica's second goal). Lehmann didn't have his best game, but he can't be faulted for either of the goals.

Ecuador showed what can happen against a team with a (sometimes) slow to react defense by beating them on two occasions with precision passing and shooting (or heading). They also showed how to play impassioned, energetic defense. Poland repeatedly tried to exploit their height advantage, but to no avail. Poland might have been the better team, but they lost because of a few mistakes. If Ecuador beats Costa Rica, they will almost certainly advance to the second round. Poland is in the difficult situation of needing three points, but playing their next match against Germany.

If Germany plays attacking, free flowing soccer, but then loses because a mistake or running of energy, Jurgen Klinsmann better head back to the US.