Contrary to their sporadic form, Spain looks up to the task in Germany 2006. Two early 1st half goals will do wonders for their confidence and finally put the belief inside the hearts and minds of the Spaniards. Aragones showed his attacking strategy by starting in a 4-3-3, with the three prong attack lead by the youthful Fernando Torres, David Villa, and Luis Garcia.

Early pressure resulted into a converted corner kick from a header by Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso in the 13th min. David Villa proved his worth by firing a free kick that deflected off the Ukrainian wall into the net, past the disparaging goalie in the 17th min. After the interval, Spain was gifted with a dubious penalty, and Villa scored from the penalty spot in the 48th min.—giving him a brace in his World Cup debut. To make matters worse, Torres notched a front volley—played in by a cushioned header from defender Puyol—in the 81st min. to add to Ukraine’s blushes.

Ukraine looked absolutely shell-shocked, and Shevchenko was disappointingly a non-factor. Also, going down to 10 men early in the 2nd half did little for their cause. Andrii Voronin was the only Ukrainian player to show well and was very unfortunate not to score.

Hopefully, the goals will continue to rain down for Spain—a historical 4 goals in their opening match. Ukraine needs to regroup for their matches against Saudi Arabia and Tunisia if they expect to move into the Round of Sixteen.

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