Group A of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was one of eight groups in the opening round of the tournament. The group featured four teams, competition hosts Germany, Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador. Play began on 9 June with the first game of the tournament between Germany and Costa Rica, with the former attaining a 4–2 victory in the highest scoring opening game in World Cup history since the competition introduced a single game opener. Later the same day, Poland and Ecuador faced each other, with Ecuador winning 2–0. On 14 June, Germany secured their second victory of the competition, defeating Poland 1–0 following Oliver Neuville's injury time goal. The following day, Ecuador defeated Costa Rica 3–0 to guarantee both they and Germany would advance to the round of 16.
The final set of matches was played on 20 June 2006. Germany and Ecuador contested the top place in the group, with the hosts winning 3–0. With both sides already eliminated, Poland defeated Costa Rica 2–1 to claim their only victory of the competition. Ecuador were eliminated in the following round by England while Germany reached the semi-finals before being defeated by eventual winners Italy. Germany finished third after beating Portugal in the match for third place.
Background Group A was the first of eight groups to start play at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The competition consisted of 32 competitors, split into eight groups of four teams. The sides would play each other on a round-robin basis with the top two teams in each group advancing to the round of 16.
As hosts, three-time World Cup winners Germany qualified automatically for the tournament and were placed into Group A. Manager Jürgen Klinsmann had been appointed in 2004, but due to qualifying as hosts, had yet to take charge of his side in a competitive fixture. His team were considered one of the favourites to win the competition with bookmakers offering odds of around 13/2, but had received criticism in the country, notably from Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeneß who had labelled the side "a disaster". CONCACAF members Costa Rica endured a poor start to qualifying, narrowly avoiding an upset defeat against Cuba in the second qualifying round, before appointing Alexandre Guimarães as manager midway through the stage. They qualified for the tournament after finishing third in their qualification round, reaching the finals for the third time in their history. However, they were classed as rank outsiders to win the competition, with odds as high as 500/1 being offered.
To provide an even number of teams for the playoff bracket, the two teams from the UEFA qualification groups who had finished second in their group with the best record automatically gained qualification to the World Cup. Poland, who finished second in UEFA qualification Group 6 behind England, were one of the teams who were eligible, along with Sweden. Ecuador qualified after finishing in the third of four automatic qualification places in the CONMEBOL qualifying group behind Brazil and Argentina, reaching the finals for only the second time. Similar to Costa Rica, Ecuador were given low odds of around 400/1. In their preview of the tournament, The Guardian labelled Group A as the "weakest" in the competition.
Teams Draw position Team Confederation Method ofqualification Date ofqualification Finalsappearance Lastappearance Previous bestperformance FIFA Rankings November 2005 June 2006 A1 (seed) UEFA Hosts 6 July 2000 16th 2002 Winners (1954, 1974, 1990) 16 19 A2 CONCACAF CONCACAF fourth round third place 8 October 2005 3rd 2002 Round of 16 (1990) 21 26 A3 UEFA Best placed UEFA group runners-up 13 October 2005 7th 2002 Third place (1974, 1982) 23 29 A4 CONMEBOL CONMEBOL third place 8 October 2005 2nd 2002 Group stage (2002) 37 39
Notes
Standings
Germany advanced to play Sweden (runners-up of Group B) in the round of 16. Ecuador advanced to play England (winners of Group B) in the round of 16.
Matches All times local (CEST/UTC+2)
Germany vs Costa Rica
The opening match of Group A, and the World Cup, was between hosts Germany and Costa Rica. This was the first time the two sides had ever played each other in international football. Germany captain Michael Ballack was forced to withdraw from the starting line-up after failing to overcome an injury and was replaced by Tim Borowski. Defender Philipp Lahm gave Germany the lead after six minutes with a 30-yard curling shot from outside the penalty area that beat opposition goalkeeper José Porras and was described as "unstoppable" by the BBC. In doing so, Lahm became the fourth German player to have opened the scoring at a World Cup. Germany had further long range efforts soon after, before Costa Rica's Paulo Wanchope, already his country's record goalscorer, equalised after 12 minutes after breaching the German defence and finishing past goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. Wanchope's goal saw him become the first Costa Rican player to have scored in more than one World Cup and the second to have scored more than one World Cup goal after Rónald Gómez four years earlier.
Germany regained their lead five minutes later when Miroslav Klose finished from Bernd Schneider's cross. Costa Rica's Danny Fonseca became the first player to be booked in the competition after 30 minutes and the midfielder missed a chance to equalise shortly after half-time, heading wide despite being unmarked. Klose netted his second goal just after the hour-mark, putting in the rebound after his own header was parried by Porras. However, after 12 minutes Costa Rica again cut the deficit with Wanchope again scoring past Lehmann with a composed finish after receiving a cross from Walter Centeno, although the German players believed Wanchope was offside. The Germans sealed victory three minutes from time with Torsten Frings firing in a long-range shot that beat Porras in similar fashion to Lahm's goal. The six goals scored during the match made it the highest-scoring opening game in World Cup history since the tournament began using the single opening match format.
GK 1 Jens LehmannRB 3 Arne FriedrichCB 17Per MertesackerCB 21Christoph MetzelderLB 16Philipp LahmRM 19Bernd Schneider (c) CM 8 Torsten FringsCM 18Tim Borowski LM 7 Bastian SchweinsteigerCF 11Miroslav Klose CF 20Lukas PodolskiSubstitutions:MF 5 Sebastian Kehl FW 10Oliver Neuville MF 22David Odonkor Manager:Jürgen Klinsmann GK 18José PorrasRB 5 Gilberto Martínez CB 4 Michael UmañaCB 20Douglas SequeiraCB 3 Luis Marín (c)LB 12Leonardo GonzálezCM 6 Danny Fonseca CM 10Walter CentenoCM 8 Mauricio Solís CF 11Rónald Gómez CF 9 Paulo WanchopeSubstitutions:DF 2 Jervis Drummond MF 7 Christian Bolaños MF 14Randall Azofeifa Manager:Alexandre Guimarães
Man of the Match: Miroslav Klose (Germany)
Assistant referee: Darío García (Argentina) Rodolfo Otero (Argentina) Fourth official: Carlos Chandía (Chile) Fifth official: Cristian Julio (Chile)
Poland vs Ecuador Poland and Ecuador had previously met once before their opening World Cup match, playing out a 1–1 draw during a friendly in November 2005. The Poles pressed the attack for the opening 20 minutes of the match, but were unable to create any significant chances. 24 minutes in, Ecuador took the lead when Carlos Tenorio got ahead of Marcin Baszczyński to head in after teammate Agustín Delgado had nodded the ball towards him from a long throw. Tenorio became only the third player to have scored a World Cup goal for Ecuador after Delgado and Édison Méndez. Buoyed by their goal, Ecuador took control of the game and had several chances before the end of the first half but failed to convert. However, Poland had struggled to make an impression and Jon Brodkin of The Guardian noted that they had "forced not a single meaningful save" from the opposition goalkeeper.
In the second half, Poland began pushing forward with Mirosław Szymkowiak creating several near chances, the best of which sent Jacek Krzynówek through before being called offside. In the final third of the game, Poland were denied by the woodwork twice; first when Ireneusz Jeleń struck the crossbar with a shot and later when Paweł Brożek hit the post. Despite their attacking threat, it was Ecuador who were able to score when Iván Kaviedes broke through before laying the ball off for Delgado to give his side a 2–0 lead. Delgado's goal made him his country's record World Cup goalscorer, which he would remain until being surpassed by Enner Valencia at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. This match was the fifth consecutive time that Poland had failed to score in their opening match at a World Cup finals.
GK 1 Artur BorucRB 4 Marcin BaszczyńskiCB 2 Mariusz JopCB 6 Jacek Bąk (c)LB 14Michał ŻewłakowRM 15Ebi Smolarek CM 16Arkadiusz RadomskiCM 7 Radosław Sobolewski LM 10Mirosław SzymkowiakCF 8 Jacek Krzynówek CF 9 Maciej Żurawski Substitutions:FW 21Ireneusz Jeleń MF 5 Kamil Kosowski FW 23Paweł Brożek Manager:Paweł Janas GK 12Cristian MoraRB 4 Ulises de la CruzCB 3 Iván Hurtado (c) CB 17Giovanny EspinozaLB 18Neicer ReascoRM 16Antonio ValenciaCM 14Segundo CastilloCM 20Edwin TenorioLM 8 Édison Méndez CF 11Agustín Delgado CF 21Carlos Tenorio Substitutions:FW 10Iván Kaviedes DF 2 Jorge Guagua MF 6 Patricio Urrutia Manager: Luis Fernando Suárez
Man of the Match: Agustín Delgado (Ecuador)
Assistant referees: Yoshikazu Hiroshima (Japan) Kim Dae-young (Korea Republic) Fourth official: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia) Fifth official: Roman Slyško (Slovakia)
Germany vs Poland This was the 15th international meeting between Germany and Poland since 1933 and their third in World Cup competition, having previously met at both the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals, with Germany having never lost to their opponents. The Germans, with captain Ballack restored to the starting line-up in place of Borowski, dominated play and had a number of chances in the first half, with both Klose and his strike partner Lukas Podolski failing to convert more than one chance each. Poland's best chance came early on when Maciej Żurawski sent a scuffed shot towards Lehmann which was easily gathered.
During the second half Poland threatened with Jelen testing Lehmann early and Poland offered more attacking threat in the opening period. Germany also continued to push forward and forced Poland goalkeeper Artur Boruc into several saves, while both Klose and Ballack were denied by the frame of the goal during the same attack. With 15 minutes remaining, Polish midfielder Radosław Sobolewski was sent off for a second bookable offence after fouling Klose. In the last seconds of injury time, German substitutes David Odonkor and Oliver Neuville combined, the latter converting a cross from his teammate to secure a 1–0 victory, the first time Germany had ever won a World Cup game through an injury time goal. The win marked the first time Germany had beaten another European nation at a major international competition since defeating the Czech Republic in the UEFA Euro 1996 final.
GK 1 Jens LehmannRB 3 Arne Friedrich CB 17Per MertesackerCB 21Christoph Metzelder LB 16Philipp LahmRM 19Bernd SchneiderCM 8 Torsten FringsCM 13Michael Ballack (c) LM 7 Bastian Schweinsteiger CF 11Miroslav KloseCF 20Lukas Podolski Substitutions:MF 22David Odonkor FW 10Oliver Neuville MF 18Tim Borowski Manager:Jürgen Klinsmann GK 1 Artur Boruc RB 4 Marcin BaszczyńskiCB 19Bartosz BosackiCB 6 Jacek Bąk (c)LB 14Michał Żewłakow CM 7 Radosław Sobolewski CM 16Arkadiusz RadomskiRW 21Ireneusz Jeleń AM 9 Maciej ŻurawskiLW 8 Jacek Krzynówek CF 15Ebi SmolarekSubstitutions:DF 18Mariusz Lewandowski DF 17Dariusz Dudka FW 23Paweł Brożek Manager:Paweł Janas
Man of the Match: Philipp Lahm (Germany)
Assistant referees: Victoriano Giráldez Carrasco (Spain) Pedro Medina Hernández (Spain) Fourth official: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) Fifth official: Fathi Arabati (Jordan)
Ecuador vs Costa Rica