Costa Ricans take World Cup's first defeat smiling

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, June 10 (Reuters) - Costa Ricans took the first defeat of the World Cup lightly, overjoyed at two surprise goals against hosts Germany that they hope will give them the momentum to shine against Poland and Ecuador.

The capital of the tiny but soccer-mad Central American nation was a ghost town but for the area around a giant public screen downtown where residents had gathered to watch the World Cup's opening game, which Germany won 4-2.

With government workers given a half-day off to watch the match, most of the country was glued to television sets at home or crammed into bars as their team fought against massive odds.

Costa Ricans were generally pleased with their team, who kept the score close against their heavily favoured opponents who are fancied to make it through to the later rounds.

''I thought they were going to cream us,'' said Jessica Palmer a 23 year-old car saleswoman, among a crowd wearing the national team's red colour and jammed into a restaurant in a suburb of the capital San Jose.

''Costa Rica played really well,'' she said. ''I'm not disappointed.'' The game has been virtually the only topic of conversation for weeks as Costa Rica enthusiastically embraced the honour of helping to open the global tournament.

The enthusiasm vanished, though, and gloom fell over the restaurant after left back Philipp Lahm opened the scoring for Germany in the sixth minute.

But when Costa Rican forward Paulo Wanchope equalised soon after, the eatery exploded in euphoria as men and women jumped screaming out of their seats, hugging and giving each other high fives.

Although the Germans scored two more goals to go 3-1 up, a similar scene of joy was played out among the Costa Ricans after another goal by Wanchope set up a thrilling finish.

Only when a spectacular long-range shot by Germany's Torsten Frings in the 87th minute wrapped up the win for the hosts did a sense of defeat set in among the restaurant crowd.

They all stood and applauded after the final whistle.

''We could have done a little more but in reality they played very well even though they lost,'' said Jose Castro, 33, a salesman.

Costa Rica's performance was all the more surprising since they had lost all their warm-up matches.

The close score has raised the country's hopes of reaching the second round after playing Ecuador and Poland.

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