Half time. So far it's the best opener in a long time.

Costa Rica ned to be more effective in the final third of the pitch - all of their attacks are breaking down, it's too easy for the German defence. The Germans are also being allowed too much time and space. Good entertaining match though. Good to see Wanchope (formerly of Manchester City, of course) doing well. He was onside for the goal, and took it nicely.

anyones fantasy team effected by the score so far?
Scoring Details

Attacking Stats
Goal(including Penalty Goal) (G)5pts
Assist (AST)3pts
Shot on goal (SOG)3pts
Penalty Kick Missed (PKM)-5pts

Defending Stats
Tackles Committed (TKC)1pts
Foul Committed (FC)-0.5pts
Yellow Card (YC)-3pts
Red Card (RC)-6pts

Goal Keeper
SpecificSave (SAV)2pts
Penalty Kick Save (PKS)8pts
Goal Allowed (GA)-3pts

SpecialMcDonald's Team Captain2X pts per matchday

I've an assist for schweinsteiger, and a goal let in by lehmann. don't know about shots attempted/tackles won yet. I wonder if shots attempted means they have to be on the goal/saved by keeper/on and off target

for people watching in the uk, wehn mark lawrinson is in the commentary box, do you ever notice him laughing at the other commentator's "funny" remarks off mic?

germany are for the chope

nobody had Frings did they?

A 40-yard shot by a midfielder to secure the opening match for Germany in the 2006 World Cup opener in Munich is sure to get loads of extra "fan points" if this works anything like NFL fantasy football.

for anyone wondering
Statistics from all of the matches at FIFA World Cup Germany™ along with updated team points and Public and Private Group standings will be available within 12 hours of the final whistle of each of the evening matches

I have 2 goals with Wanchope. Don't know if he had shots/penalties and whatnot.

Happiest man on earth right now = Oliver Kahn.

He looked more than happy!

schweinsteiger assist on that one too

This whole thing makes things more horrible than they should be, was I repeating to myself...
I've got these same 2 German players in my virtual team, am really glad of Schweinteiger's actions & feel sooo sad Lehmann didn't stop anything.
I can't help being French saying it ain't fair.
Seriously the impact of the virtual game on my reaction to the real one are different.
Lahm's goal, Whanchope's second (mostly for the way he received the ball) and Frings' were all great.
It was a surprise, though, with a team as slow as Costa Rica, that Germany got in danger. Next games against Poland & the rest are gonna be interesting, the central defense's too loose.
Costa Rica played the same as against France a few months ago, seemingly nonchalant, causing problems, scoring, but not winning (yet).

Ha ha, splendid stuff - the Poles have left star Rasziak one the bench (he's in my team, of course). What on earth? Maybe he'll come on.

Costa Rica need to learn about man-marking, no question about that.

Poland have started OK against Ecuador, but have fallen behind. They're playing well enough at the moment though.

how's ebi smolarek playing? he's in my team.

germany's central defense looks really poor... that can really break them up after the first round. i had lahm in my team though and think i'll get points for 1 goal, 1 assist and at least 1 shot at the goal. not sure if the assist counts though because it touched the head of one of the players from costa rica before klose headed it in.

Did anyone catch the commentators just now? I don't know if it was only ESPN2, but:

---
"The world's first oil well was drilled by a Pole"

"Really...I thought it was by a bit."

"I mean a Pole man, though I'm sure a pole was involved as well."

"And I said bit, not Brit."
---


Haha I thought that was funny.

Yeah, the two the called that Poland - Ecuador game were much better than Marcelo Balboa and the other moron. Unfortunately the two of them will probably call all of the US games.

What a let down for Poland.

yeah, i was surprised, they hit the bar and post though unlucky both times

Poland were unlucky, but by the same account Ecuador have got more to offer than many expected.

The best opening day in recent memory - two good, contrasting games. I enjoyed the second, as there was a great clash of styles.

The TV types were saying that Poland are effectively out, but the fact is that Germany showed defensive frailties, so there may be a chance of a point there.

Looking forward to the weekend games.

boo hoo

I wish there were more games on today....what a tease.

Wait untill after the opening round, when all of a sudden there are days with no games at all. You'll feel that. You get you life back, but for a while you forget what it was that you used to do with it.

When are we given our points?