Germans off to an impressive start

MUNICH, Germany -- Philipp Lahm and Miroslav Klose scored in the first 17 minutes as Germany made an impressive start to the opening game of the World Cup finals in Munich, but Paulo Wanchope was on target for Costa in an exciting opening half.

Lahm curled in a spectacular sixth minute goal to the delight of the home supporters in a sell-out 60,000 crowd.

Wanchope punished some slack German defending to equalize in the 12th minute but Klose swept in a second goal for the home team five minutes later.

German coach Juergen Klinsmann omitted captain Michael Ballack even though the player had announced that he was fit to play.

The team's doctors decided playing Ballack would be too risky, according to assistant coach Joachim Loew.

"The danger of a tear is very, very high. We didn't want to take that risk. Ballack is too important for that. We need him in later matches," Loew said.

Bernd Schneider took over the captaincy and Klinsmann named Tim Borowski to fill Ballack's central midfield position.

Germany scored after six minutes when defender Lahm, after wrong-footing a defender, sent a magnificent shot from the edge of the box past keeper Jose Porras. The ball struck the far post and flew in.

It was Lahm's second goal for his country but the first for two years. He had not scored for Bayern all season.

The hosts could have scored a second four minutes later but Klose just missed tapping the ball into the goal and then Schneider's shot from inside the box flew over the bar.

But it was Costa Rica who scored next when in the 12th minute Wanchope raced through a frozen German defense, who wrongly thought he was offside, to pick up a pass from Ronald Gomez and slide the ball past German keeper Jens Lehmann.

It took the Germans only five minutes to regain the lead when Schneider, racing down the left flank, cut the ball back into the box to Bastian Schweinsteiger who passed to Klose for an close-range tap-in.

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