It146;s begun

Today, as one of the pre-match songs said, football came home. This was tribal, atavistic stuff, from the crowds, to the chants, to, eventually, the emphatic manner in which the giant swatted away the new kids in town.

They thoroughly deserved to win, and the margin is a correct measure of the distance between the teams. For the hosts, today was all about youth, and the promise of the future8212;and the possibility of life without Ballack.

They began on the offensive, and their attacking style paid off as early as the seventh minute when Philippe Lahm, the shortest member of the team, curled in an exquisite right-footer from the edge of the area.

Five minutes later, Wanchope exposed the chinks in the German defence8212;too slow, too unsure8212;as he beat the offside trap and then beat Lehmann.

The next goal followed inside 20 minutes when Miroslav Klose was put through by Bastian Schweinsteiger, who had a blinder on the left wing. Klose usually scores with his head but today, on his 28th birthday, he chose to use his feet.

That8217;s the way the half ended but the goals weren8217;t done. On the hour, Germany8217;s goalscorers combined to set up their third. Lahm, in sparkling form on the left8212;one run in the 69th minute was worthy of a fulltime winger8212;crossed to Klose, who headed it. But this was a day for extraordinary feats or feet; when the keeper saved the header, Klose, the highest scorer in the German Bundesliga last season, reacted sharply to strike it in.

Up in the stands, the battle was equally intense. These stadiums are built for atmosphere and the 66,000-strong crowd gave it all they had. The Germans were in great voice, chants of 8220;Stand up if you8217;re German8221;, sung to the old Pet Shop Boys song 8220;Go West8221; a tune first adopted by Arsenal fans; the away fans, some 2,000 tucked in one corner of the stadium, responded with cries of 8220;Ticos8221;, the team8217;s nickname.

Yet Costa Rica threatened every time they broke, Wanchope8217;s speed unnerving Germany8217;s defenders whose size was not matched by dexterity. When he scored in the 73rd minute8212;again the hint of offside proving no more than that8212;it seemed game on.

Until Torsten Frings decided to end the fairytale in the 87th minute. He8217;d shot wide from 30 yards out in the opening minutes but he made no mistake with a similar effort to close the match.

Germany will face much tougher competition than this in the days ahead but they can take heart from the fact that the kids are alright. The game means almost everything to the locals. The family sitting next to this reporter journalists were placed alongside the public paid 1,200 Euro and faced a round trip of 700 miles to watch this match.Today, at any rate, was paisa vasool.

A positive day for football as well. The doomsayers, and Pele was among them, predicted fewer goals at this World Cup. Today, dodgy defending notwithstanding, was a huge step towards proving them wrong. One match over, one month to go.