A Klose affair?

Germany striker Miroslav Klose will celebrate his 28th birthday in front of a 65,000-Munich crowd and hundreds of millions of TV viewers when the hosts get the 2006 World Cup started against Costa Rica

Germany striker Miroslav Klose will celebrate his 28th birthday in front of a 65,000-Munich crowd and hundreds of millions of TV viewers when the hosts get the 2006 World Cup started against Costa Rica on Friday.

If he makes the same sort of impact he did at the start of the last World Cup it will be quite a party at the glorious new three-tiered Allianz Arena, regardless of whether Michael Ballack recovers from his calf strain in time. Klose scored a hat-trick in an 8-0 win over Saudi Arabia four years ago, his World Cup debut, and the performance set the Germans on their way to the final, which they lost 2-0 against Brazil.

Germany are outsiders this time but one of their three World Cup triumphs came in 1974 when they last had the tournament on home soil and they are confident of beating Costa Rica, who have struggled in their recent warm-up games. 8220;It8217;s crucial to have a good start because we play in our own country,8221; Klinsmann said recently.

Germany will not be complacent, especially considering what happened in the opening match of the last World Cup. Defending champions France had the honour of opening that tournament and with Zinedine Zidane unavailable through injury they went down to a shock 1-0 defeat by Senegal. It was a similar story in Italy in 1990 when Cameroon upset Argentina.

Costa Rica have been boosted by the return to fitness of Paulo Wanchope, the country8217;s all-time leading goalscorer. He scored eight goals in the qualifiers and has 43 international goals in all and will lead the country into their third finals. The Ticos reached the second round in 1990 and were unlucky not to match the achievement four years ago, when they lost out on goal difference to eventual semi-finalists Turkey.

GROUP A

Germany

Goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann 1, Oliver Kahn 12 038; Timo Hildebrand 23

Defenders: Marcell Jansen 2, Arne Friedrich 3, Robert Huth 4, Jens Nowotny 6, Philipp Lahm 16, Per Mertesacker 17 038; Christoph Metzelder 21

Midfielders: Sebastian Kehl 5, Bastian Schweinsteiger 7, Torsten Frings 8, Michael Ballack 13, Thomas Hitzlsperger 15, Tim Borowski 18, Bernd Schneider 19 038; David Odonkor 22

Story continues below this ad

Forwards: Mike Hanke 9, Oliver Neuville 10, Miroslav Klose 11, Gerald Asamoah 14 038; Lukas Podolski 20

Costa Rica

Goalkeepers: Alvaro Mesen 1, Jose Porras 18 038; Wardy Alfaro 23

Defenders: Jervis Drummond 2, Luis Marin 3, Michael Umana 4, Gilberto Martinez 5, Leonardo Gonzalez 12, Harold Wallace 15, Gabriel Badilla 17 038; Michael Rodriguez 22

Midfielders: Danny Fonseca 6, Cristian Bolanos 7, Mauricio Solis 8, Walter Centeno 10, Randall Azofeifa 14, Carlos Hernandez 16 038; Douglas Sequeira 20

Forwards: Paulo Wanchope 9, Ronald Gomez 11, Kurt Bernard 13, Alvaro Saborio 19 038; Victor Nunez 21

Munich 9:30 pm