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Group A review Herr come the Germans The hosts stormed through with three wins, but the battle for second spot took a surprising turn in Group A. James Sugrue reports



It was a time of mixed results for the teams in Group A. The Germans comfortably strolled into the second round as expected, but their neighbours Poland, who had been favourites to join them, succumbed to the trappings of overconfidence. Costa Rica had promised goals and an attacking brand of football, yet after the opening match offered barely a whimper as they were eliminated. Then there was Ecuador, the dark horse. Despite their excellent record in qualifying they were expected to find life a lot harder away from the advantage of the high altitude at their home city of Quito. But despite that question mark over their true ability, they brushed Poland and Costa Rica aside and may even have topped the group had they not rested five of their starting XI for the deciding match with Germany. There was, of course, a lot more to it than that for all the teams involved, but possibly the most noticeable thing was how entertaining the games were. Right from the start Germany and Costa Rica provided a spectacular opening for the tournament and Ecuador kept the spirit of 2002 alive by causing an upset right from the off. But as Costa Rica and Poland head home to figure out what went wrong, it is Germany and Ecuador who enter the second round – and deservedly so. The host nation played some wonderful attacking football with their midfield creating plenty, while their strikers continued to stick the ball in the net, despite rumours of a bust-up between Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski. The jury is still out on their often disastrous defensive play, but few can doubt that they mean serious business at this World Cup. Many may argue that Germany are yet to face top-class opposition in this tournament but, as the saying goes, you can only beat what is put in front of you. And they have done that convincingly. It was still, perhaps, Ecuador who deserve to be the stars of the group though. The way they comprehensively dealt with the overly defensive and unimaginative Poles showed that they are a true force in the game and are wholly deserving of their place in the last 16. The strike partnership of Carlos Tenorio and Agustin Delgado looked well established and more than capable of causing the big sides trouble in the later rounds and their solid defence had not conceded a goal until captain Ivan Hurtado was rested for the final game with Germany. In a way that was a shame, as with so many players absent against the Germans it is still unknown how capable they are of beating one of the elite nations, but maybe that’s exactly what Coach Luis Suarez wanted. STAR MAN – PHILIPP LAHM (GERMANY) The German full-back showed just why he is rated so highly by Bayern Munich. His teammate Miroslav Klose may have scored the goals, but they were made by Lahm and his link-up play with Bastian Schweinsteiger on the left wing. The 22-year-old was crucial to Germany’s quick counter-attacks and his goal against Costa Rica, the first of the tournament, was nothing short of sublime. Roberto Carlos eat your heart out. KEY MOMENT Oliver Neuville’s injury-time winner against Poland effectively ended Group A as a competition and demonstrated Germany’s determination to succeed on home soil. After dominating for the entire match, the hosts continued to surge forward when lesser teams would have dropped their heads and accepted their fate. More importantly it guaranteed their passage to the second round and by eliminating Poland effectively did the same for Ecuador.