Here We Go...

By Chris O'Brien
June 9 2006

The World Cup is finally set to get underway with some 100,000 England supporters set to travel to Germany for the much-anticipated finals. The tournament kicks-off with the host nation taking on Costa Rica, before Poland battle it out with Ecuador.

Friday sees the World Cup finally get underway with host nation Germany taking on Costa Rica in the opening game of the tournament. The two teams do battle at the 59,000-capacity Allianz Arena in Munic.

The 'big guns' of international football have not found it easy in the competition's curtain-raisers in recent seasons. Holders Argentina were shocked by Columbia in 1990, whilst Senegal staged one of international football's biggest ever upsets with victory over France in 2002.

Bad omens are not all that's going against the Germans. Jurgen Klinsmann's men will be without talisman and captain Michael Ballack, with Tim Borowski likely to replace the Chelsea midfielder. However, the Costa Ricans remain huge underdogs despite Ballack's absence, priced at a huge 11/1 with the bookmakers as they embark on their third World Cup finals.

Poland take on Ecuador in Friday's other encounter in Gelsenkirchen. Both teams have ambitions of qualifying for the second-round, and whoever takes the points will undoubtedly be a firm favourite for progression to the last 16. It's easy to forget that the Poles pushed England all the way in qualification for the tournament, taking six points off Wales and Northern Ireland. Their attacking credentials were also shown with an 8-0 drubbing of Azerbaijan.

Thirteen of Manchester United's finest are jetting off to Germany for the finals.

-Argentina- Gabriel Heinze	-England- Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney
-France- Mikel Silvestre and Louis Saha	-Netherlands- Edwin Van der Sar and Ruud van Nistelrooy
-Portugal- Cristiano Ronaldo	-Serbia & Montenegro- Nemanja Vidic
-South Korea- Ji-Sung Park	-United States of America- Tim Howard

Ben Foster, United's third-choice goalkeeper, is also on stand-by for England after impressing on a season-loan with Watford.

It promises to be a special tournament, once again. You can discuss all the happenings on our messageboard, or pop up to SportNetwork's World Cup site for all the latest news, views and opinion.

Whatever you do this tournament, make sure you keep on top of all the action in Germany. Download the "Best Online World Cup Wall Chart Ever" from our partners below, and assure you're ahead of the game throughout.

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