World unites as football fever kicks off in style

THE 2006 World Cup opened with a feast of goals yesterday, as hosts Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 in the curtain-raiser in Munich.

Opening games in the tournament are traditionally cagey, low-scoring affairs but yesterday’s match was a refreshing exception, providing plenty of entertainment for a sell-out crowd of just under 60,000 and a huge worldwide television audience.

Before kick-off, the opening ceremony included a parade of former champions, going back to the first ever tournament in Uruguay in 1930. Among the legendary names taking a bow were Pele of Brazil, Franz Beckenbauer of Germany and former Republic of Ireland manager Jack Charlton, who was joined down on the pitch of the Allianz Arena by his brother Bobby and other representatives of England’s World Cup-winning team of 1966.

The Republic of Ireland’s failure to qualify for this summer’s World Cup didn’t prevent a small number of Irish supporters travelling to Germany for the tournament and, in the happy mingling of fans from various nations in the centre of Munich over the last couple of days, the strains of The Fields Of Athenry could occasionally be heard.

FAI chief executive John Delaney and president David Blood, in town on FIFA business, were among the invited guests who

attended yesterday’s opening game, while Irish manager Steve Staunton is expected to arrive to take in matches involving the host nation and the Czech Republic, both of whom Ireland will meet in the European Championship qualifiers.