Home Field Advantage

Match 33: In the battle for first place in Group A both Germany and Ecuador were coming off of two victories. Ecuador had yet to allow a goal, and Germany had looked strong as the home crowd cheered them on. Germany was able to stain Ecuador's clean sheet for the match in the 4th minute when Miroslave Klose notched his 3rd goal of the tournament after burying a deflected cross in the net. In the 44th minute Michael Ballack flicked a beautiful pass to Klose and Klose how slid around a defender and past keeper Cristian Mora to slot the ball into the empty net and netting his 4th goal of the tournament in just three matches. Even though the Germans were now in control of the score, Ecuador was still able to outposess the home side 57/43. The third and final goal of the contest was notched on by a sliding Lukas Podolski who completely a cross from Bern Schneider in the 57th minute. The rest of the match saw Germany sub out its stars to rest and preserve them for the round of 16 playing the runner-up of Group B, while Ecuador will play the winner from the same group.............

Match 34: The final Group A match for this World Cup saw Costa Rica face a dejected Polish side that has had a miserable showing so far losing to Germany and Ecuador. This match was therefore rather unimportant by most accounts, and due to the fact that it played simultaneously alongside the Ecuador-Germany match. As a result Ramble On was only able to catch small bits of the contest. Costa Rica opened the scoring when Ronald Gomez sent a low shot through the Polish wall and through the legs of an embarrassed Artur Boruc to give Costa Rica a 1-0 lead. In the 33rd minute Bartosz Bosacki equalized for Poland. Finally Bosacki struck again with a header from the 6-yard line in the 66th minute. The match ended 2-1, and each team's tournament was officially over.