Del Bosque defends players after tepid draw

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque defended his side on Wednesday following their second disappointing display in just four days. Although Spain scored late goals from David Silva and David Villa to scrape a 2-2 draw away to Costa Rica, it did little to take away the memory of a poor first 45 minutes against the Central American side. The Spanish had trailed 2-0 at half time and had been heading for defeat against a rival ranked over 60 places below them in the FIFA rankings. "We didn't underestimate them at all. We never underestimate any of our rivals. Spain is World and European Champion, but we are not an arrogant team," said Del Bosque, whose side lost 1-0 away to England on Saturday. "What happened here is that Costa Rica played a magnificent first half and they got the better of us by playing good football. If they went in with a half time lead, it was because of the football they played, because they defended and attacked well," he said. The two friendly games come at a point in the season when the players from major sides have been playing two games a week for two months and would probably benefit from a rest rather than playing a friendly match following an 11 hour trans-Atlantic flight. Del Bosque, however, rejected claims that some of the players had lacked motivation. "With Spain all of the players give maximum interest in winning all of the games and the proof of that is the effort they made in the closing minutes until we managed to draw the game. I have nothing to criticize the players. They all gave everything they have, because otherwise we would not have got a draw," he insisted.