England, Germany find way out of group play

Germany cruised into the second round of the World Cup on Tuesday with a 3-0 win over Ecuador that exhibited flashes of the form that made it a three-time champion.

While Poland beat Costa Rica 2-1 in Hanover in a game between two already eliminated teams, Germany moved on as Group A winner, with Ecuador in second place.

England won Group B with a 2-2 tie with Sweden, which also advanced.

Germany will now play Sweden in Munich on Saturday, while Ecuador will play England, which finished atop Group B, in Stuttgart on Sunday.

Paraguay, already knocked out, beat Trinidad and Tobago 2-0. The Caribbean side had a slim chance of qualifying for the second round, but its hopes disappeared when Brett Sancho scored an own-goal in the 25th minute and Nelson Cuevas scored in the 86th.

England, which has not beaten Sweden since 1968, took the lead twice, first on a 30-yard shot from Joe Cole, then on a header by substitute Steven Gerrard. But Sweden fought back both times on goals by Marcus Allback, then veteran Henrik Larsson in the 90th minute.

Berlin's Olympic Stadium was packed with a capacity crowd of 72,000, almost all of them in white shirts adorned with the national colors of red, black and yellow, and chanting, "Deutschland, Deutschland."

It was a memorable scene in a stadium where Jesse Owens won Olympic gold medals 70 years ago. The German team rarely plays in the Olympic Stadium -- but has its sights on another trip to the historic arena, on July 9 in the World Cup final.

Miroslav Klose scored twice and Lukas Podolski scored the third. Klose also connected twice in the opening 4-2 victory over Costa Rica and is now the tournament's leading scorer with four goals.

"Our goal was to win the group and we achieved this," Juergen Klinsmann said. "We are looking forward to the knockout stage. Our strikers are in really good shape, they are working hard and scoring. But it will be more difficult to score in later rounds, so they will have to work even harder."

In Cologne, police were on the highest alert for England's game against Sweden. Tens of thousands of fans descended on the city, but the mood was generally festive.

Klose finished strong German pressure in the fourth minute. Defender Per Mertesacker flicked the ball over to the far post and Bastian Schweinsteiger crossed it back onto the path of Klose, who drove it inside the far post.

A minute before halftime, captain Michael Ballack produced a moment of magic, insolently flicking the ball over the Ecuador defense to Klose, who shook off two defenders while playing the ball off his thigh, went around goalkeeper Cristian Mora and scored.

In the 57th minute, Robert Huth blocked a shot outside the German penalty area, and Schweinsteiger carried the ball forward before timing his pass to Bernd Schneider perfectly. Schneider curled a cross into the box to the galloping Podolski, who prodded the ball in inside the right post.

In Cologne, Cole's 34th-minute volley sealed a half of almost complete domination for England, despite the loss of striker Michael Owen with what looked like a serious knee injury. Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, asked if Owen was out for the tournament, said, "maybe, we don't know yet, but it doesn't look good."

Eriksson said the main aim was achieved. "We won the group, that's what counts."

Sweden rallied in the second half. Allback's 51st-minute header from a corner leveled the score. Sweden then hit the crossbar twice and Gerrard headed off the line as England's defense wilted.

But Cole crossed the ball for Gerrard to head in powerfully in the 85th minute.

As England fans began to celebrate, a long Swedish throw-in was missed by the English defense and Larsson got a toe on it in the 90th.

In Kaiserslautern, Trinidad and Tobago never recovered from an own-goal in a game it needed to win to have any chance of advancing.

After starting its first World Cup appearance with a promising and surprising 0-0 draw against the Swedes, Trinidad and Tobago finished last in the group with only that one point.

"They can be proud," Trinidad Leo Beenhakker said. "Before the start of the tournament the question was if we would lose 6-nil, 8-nil or 5-nil."

In Hanover, Bartosz Bosacki, not on Poland's original 23-man roster, scored twice after Costa Rica had taken the lead in their final game of the World Cup.

Striker Ronald Gomez gave Costa Rica the lead in the 25th when he hit a left-footed free kick from 20 yards past the wall and Poland goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

Bosacki leveled the score eight minutes later. Costa Rica goalkeeper Jose Porras stumbled trying to punch a corner kick, and the ball fell to Bosacki, who sidefooted it in.

Bosacki gave the Poles the lead in the 66th, rising above Paulo Wanchope to head in a corner from Jacek Krzynowek.