Paulo Wanchope also scored two goals for Costa Rica, while Philipp Lahm and Torsten Frings added the others for Germany.

Lahm, a defender still wearing a special brace after surgery on his left elbow three weeks ago, curved in a shot from the edge of the penalty area in the sixth minute to put Germany ahead. The ball squeezed into the upper right corner of the net after Lahm cut in and got the space he needed when Luis Marin slipped.

"I was lucky to hit the ball just right on my goal," Lahm said.

That should have been the instant lift Germany needed, but Costa Rica stunned the hosts in the 12th minute. Veteran striker Wanchope beat the German offside trap and coolly slipped the ball past goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

Suddenly, it was 1-1, and Germany's young and inexperienced defense was exposed.

"Everybody saw that we showed there are no easy rivals", Wanchope said. "In spite of our limited resources, we made a good presentation."

It didn't take Germany long to recover, though.

Bernd Schneider broke through on the right side and passed to Bastian Schweinsteiger, who sent a crisp pass to the far post for Klose to knock in after 17 minutes.

It was the fastest three goals scored in a World Cup opener.

In the 61st, Klose's header was saved by goalkeeper Jose Porras, but the Bundesliga's leading scorer fired the rebound high into the net ¡ª and Germany seemed safe.

Not quite, as Wanchope got his second in the 73rd, again beating the offside trap. A through pass caught Germany's central defenders Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder flat-footed. Wanchope shrugged off a late challenge by Arne Friedrich to beat Lehmann for the second time.

"We can't keep conceding so many goals," said Lahm.

"The goals we conceded were our own fault," added Klose. "We must recover better after losing possession."

Torsten Frings clinched the win in the 87th with a wicked 30-yard shot that gave relief to an entire country. The capacity crowd of 66,000 gave the German team a standing ovation as it saluted the fans.

Ballack, recovering from a calf injury, said he wanted to play, and Klinsmann had to talk him out of it.

"We were of different opinions, he had to stop me," Ballack said.

"I am really pleased by the way the team did it. It's always difficult in the opening match. We scored two sensational goals, four goals, that's always strong."