Monday, 17th June, 2013

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque admits the world champions were suffering from their fair share of nerves despite appearing to secure a comfortable 2-1 win over Uruguay last night.

Spain began their Confederations Cup campaign in the best way possible, as goals from Pedro and Roberto Soldado put them in the clear in Recife in their Group B clash.



Only Luis Suarez put some credibility to the scoreline for Uruguay by scoring with a late free-kick, but Del Bosque was left ruing a few missed opportunities from his tournament favourites.

"It was a good game and we dominated almost the entire match", Del Bosque told Tele 5. "But towards the end we were a little pressed.

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"The truth is that in the end we were a little nervous and that was because we missed some chances to score that would have put us more at ease."

Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique were the guilty parties for Spain, with the former hitting the post early on, and the Barcelona pair denied by good saves from Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.

However, with the points made safe, Del Bosque is already dreaming of the knockout stages, with arguably an easier run of opponents ahead of them in Tahiti and Nigeria.

The World-Cup winning coach added: "We were really tired towards the end of the match. When you are playing in temperatures like this it’s normal that should happen.

"[But] they are three points that put us in a magnificent position to get into the semi-finals."

Suarez, whose club future at Liverpool has come under serious speculation over the last few weeks, insisted Uruguay had little hope against a side already heading for another World Cup win.

The striker showed a glimpse of his class with a 30-yard free-kick that curled past Spain custodian Iker Casillas two minutes from time.

However, he admitted after the game: "It’s very difficult to generate any kind of danger when you don’t touch the ball. Spain are the best side in the world. They are a candidate to win the World Cup."

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