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Host country Germany has defeated Costa Rica, 4-2, in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup football tournament in Munich, Germany.

In front of a capacity crowd at Munich's New Stadium, Miroslav Klose led the home side with two goals, in the 17th and 61st minutes.

Philipp Lahm opened the scoring for Germany with a goal in the sixth minute, but Costa Rica's Paulo Wanchope evened the match six minutes later. Wanchope scored again for Costa Rica in the 73rd minute, but Torsten Frings' shot from outside the box put the match out of reach in the 87th minute.

In the day's second match, Ecuador scored a 2-0 win over Poland in Gelsenkirchen. Carlos Tenorio scored for Ecuador in the 24th minute. Agustin Delgado added the second score in the 80th minute.

Three matches are on the schedule Saturday. England plays Paraguay in Frankfurt, Trinidad and Tobago faces Sweden in Dortmund and Ivory Coast plays Argentina in Hamburg.

Teams from 32 nations will compete in the tournament, which is held every four years in a different country. The teams are divided into eight groups of four in round-robin play, so each team is guaranteed three games. The top two teams in each group, or 16 nations, will then move on to the single elimination, or knockout, phase.

The tournament is being held in 12 cities across Germany. Defending champion Brazil has been picked by many to take home the trophy. Brazil will be the last of the 32 teams to play a first-round match, taking on Croatia in Group-F next Tuesday.