Spain’s defender Cesar Azpilicueta (left) and Tahiti’s forward Marama Vahirua vie during their FIFA Confederations Cup Group B match, at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, yesterday.
Rio De Janeiro: Spain subjected a brave Tahiti to the biggest thrashing in FIFA Confederations Cup history to make all but sure of a semi-final place, with Fernando Torres and David Villa scoring seven goals between them in a 10-0 win.
Torres scored four goals and Villa claimed a hat-trick in the Group B match at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, with David Silva scoring twice and Juan Mata also finding the net.
Tahiti started brightly, much to the delight of the crowd, but they found themselves behind within five minutes.
Torres collected possession down the left, played a one-two with Mata, and strode into the area.
From an acute angle, Torres surprised goalkeeper Mikael Roche by electing to shoot rather than cross for the lurking David Villa, and the Chelsea striker found the bottom corner with pinpoint accuracy.
Tahiti held out for almost 30 minutes before Vicente Del Bosque’s team scored twice in quick succession.
First, wonderful invention from Villa enabled David Silva to stroke the ball home, before Torres latched on to a Silva through-ball, dinked the ball over Roche, who had raced out of his area, and simply rolled the ball into the empty net to make it 3-0.
Villa then ensured Spain went in at half-time at a four-goal advantage, taking Nacho Monreal’s pass in his stride and slotting it past Roche.
The same duo combined to increase La Roja’s lead four minutes after the restart, with the 27-year-old Arsenal left-back setting up the 31-year-old Barcelona forward.
Substitute Jesus Navas’s cut-back then allowed Torres to complete his hat-trick, before Villa capitalised upon a goalkeeping error to get his third on the night and Mata got his name on the score-sheet to make it 8-0.
The FIFA World Cup holders spurned the chance to amplify their cushion on 76 minutes, with Torres’s penalty hitting the crossbar and going over, but the same player made amends by rounding Roche and scoring shortly thereafter.
Silva completed a 10-0 rout in the 89th minute.
The record victory in FIFA Confederation Cup history had been Brazil’s Ronaldinho-inspired 8-2 thrashing of Saudi Arabia in the 1999 semi-finals. Spain smashed it.
The world and European champions also broke the record previously held by two countries: Hungary, who beat South Korea 9-0 at the 1954 World Cup and overcame El Salvador 10-1 at the 1982 tournament; and Yugoslavia, who crushed Zaire 9-0 at the 1974 World Cup.
They now head to Fortaleza to face Nigeria on Sunday, while Tahiti simultaneously meet Uruguay in Recife.
Agencies
