Miroslav Klose scored twice for Germany on his 28th birthday as they opened the World Cup finals in Munich with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Costa Rica.

Philipp Lahm gave Germany a sixth minute lead and Torsten Frings fired in a superb 30-yarder to complete the scoring three minutes from time.

Paulo Wanchope scored the Costa Ricans' goals after 12 and 73 minutes.

German coach Juergen Klinsmann omitted captain Michael Ballack even though the player had announced that he was fit to play.

The team's doctors decided playing Ballack would be too risky, according to assistant coach Joachim Loew.

"The danger of a tear is very, very high. We didn't want to take that risk. Ballack is too important for that. We need him in later matches," Loew said.

Bernd Schneider took over the captaincy and Klinsmann named Tim Borowski to fill Ballack's central midfield position.

Germany scored after six minutes when defender Lahm, after wrong-footing a defender, sent a magnificent shot from the edge of the box past keeper Jose Porras. The ball struck the far post and flew in.