GERMANY v COSTA RICA - THE BEAN PREVIEW

Germany 1/4 - Costa Rica 11/1 - Draw 9/2

Finally the time has arrived. The World Cup starts today and to kick off the competition the hosts Germany will play the Caribbean team of Costa Rica at 5pm.

This will be the first ever meeting between the two sides, but Costa Rica do have a very good record over European teams. They have beaten Sweden and Scotland, drew with Turkey and their only defeat by a European team came from Czechoslovakia.

The hosts have a huge concern whether Michael Ballack will be fit for this afternoon's game after getting a twinge in his calf muscle during the German's friendly match with Colombia. German head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has a policy of not picking any player who is not declared fit 48 hours before a match, but this morning Ballack claims that he is 100%. It all swings if Klinsmann changes his policy.

Costa Rica has major doubts concerning three players, namely goalkeeper Jose Francisco Porras, midfielder Mauricio Solis and defender Gilberto Martinez. The Costa Ricans are boosted by the news that their star striker Paolo Wanchope has regained fitness and should be starting later today.

In recent times it was traditionally the holder of the trophy that kicked off the World Cup since 1974, but due to Brazil having to qualify for this year's tournament it was decided by FIFA that Germany will host the curtain raiser.

The last hosts to kick off the World Cup were Mexico in 1970 where they drew 0-0 with the Soviet Union. Ever since then the favourites of the opening match have only ever won twice out of nine competitions. Brazil beat Scotland 2-1 at France 98 and Germany defeated Bolivia 1-0 at USA 94.

Germany are red hot favourites for this match, but history dictates the big team struggle as the curtain raiser. Who can forget France's embarrassing defeat to Senegal at the last World Cup?

There are never many goals in the opening match also. So for a goalless draw you can get odds of 8/1, for Germany to edge it 1-0 it is 11/2. But If Costa Rica can emulate their performance from Italia 90 and nick the game 1-0 you can get odds of 14/1 The pick of the best first goal scorer odds are Olivier Neuville at 9/2 Schneider at 12/1 and Thomas Hitzlsperger at 16/1 for Germany. For Costa Rica, Paolo Wanchope is at 11/1 and Carlos Hernandez odds are 20/1.

My Prediction - 2-1 Germany

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