Lahm credits home fans for the win

Munich: Philipp Lahm, who fired hosts Germany to a dream start at the World Cup with the first goal in a 4-2 win over Costa Rica in Friday's opening game, praised the noisy home fans for their support.

"It's always important to start off with a win. You could see what euphoria there was in the stadium," the left back, who scored a fine opening goal after six minutes, told German public television.

"Part of the victory should be credited to the fans. They were the 12th man on the pitch. We scored four goals and that's important but clearly we can't let so many goals in."

Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann said: "We're happy to get three points in the opening match. Sure, there was some tension. We wanted to get through it without any yellow cards and we wanted to give the crowd something to cheer about."

He was also full of praise for the 22-year-old defender, who is right-footed but perfectly at home on the left side.

"He showed today what he can do as a left back. He should be proud of his performance today and I'm sure we'll have a lot more fun with him," Klinsmann said.

"Lahm played an excellent game."

Striker Miroslav Klose, who celebrated a double strike on his 28th birthday with goals in the 17th and 61st minutes, added: "That's the way I was hoping it (his birthday) would be.

"Every first match is hard but we're happy that we won. It was our own fault (that Costa Rica scored). We stupidly gave the ball away and they got goals against us. They did a good job. We've got to do a better job in defence."

Lahm agreed, saying: "We weren't 100 percent perfect but it was a good show for the opening match. We made a lot of goals, that's important but it's clear we can't give up so many."

Klinsmann added: "We saw an extraordinary opener and we wanted to make it attractive for a fantastic crowd."

He said Costa Rica's goals came from defensive blunders.

"This is a World Cup opener so it's normal that there is nervousness and that leads to mistakes in the case of the two goals. The defence was in one line and Arne Friedrich didn't move."

"We will be training to avoid them and now we are working towards the Poland match. At such a mega event like a World Cup we've got to put this (game) behind us quickly.

"They can have a little glass of beer tonight if they want but our focus has to turn right away to the next match no matter what happens," he said. This was a lot of fun."