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 opening game of the tournament between Germany and Costa Rica, with the former securing 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 third place playoff match. 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