The Cup Tips!

For a majority of the world, this is one of the biggest sporting days of the past four years – the opening day of the 2006 World Cup. I’m pumped!
There are two games today, host
Germany takes on Costa Rica at noon and Poland faces Ecuador at 3 (EST).
Having the host team open things up is a new tradition. In years past, the defending champion got the honor. They may have stopped that after France was knocked off in their first game in 2002. Germany of course is a traditional soccer power, but they’ve slipped since the last World Cup. But, they are the home squad and the host nation tends to do well in these large competitions. Costa Rica qualified third out of the United State’s qualifying group, CONCACAF and probably was picked to face the Germans first because most expect the Ticos to lose. But don’t sleep on them. Costa Rica is not a bad team and nearly advanced to the knockout round in 2002.
In the other matchup, Poland is a slight favorite against the South American squad. The knock on Ecuador is that the can only win when they are at high elevation like in their home stadium in Quito. Ecuador has not fared well in recent friendlies, going 0-3-1 in their last four. Look for Poland to take advantage of a likely friendly crowd and get the win.


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