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JEONJU, South Korea (Ticker) -- Fernando Morientes came off the bench and scored twice as Spain posted an emphatic 3-1 victory over Paraguay in a Group B matchup. Francisco de Pedro collected a pair of assists and defender Fernando Hierro converted a penalty with eight minutes left as Spain became the first country to advance into the second round of the World Cup. Morientes came on in the second half and paid dividends after just eight minutes, towering above a cluster of players and heading the ball powerfully past goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert off de Pedro's corner. The 26-year-old Real Madrid striker knocked in his second in the 64th minute off a fine cross from Real Sociedad midfielder de Pedro. Morientes has 15 goals in just 21 appearances for Spain. "I had not played in a while," said Morientes, who was sidelined with an ankle injury. "I had more chances than I expected and my will to win was stronger than ever. I had two extraordinary goals and we've secured our advancement to the round of 16." Real Madrid teammates combined to produce Spain's third goal. Star striker Raul was pulled down in the penalty area and clubmate Hierro converted from the spot for his Spanish national team record 29th goal. Hierro also scored from the spot against Slovenia. "I'm satisfied that they did their best and scored. The fact that Spain scored three goals against a strong team like Paraguay shows that they did well," Spain coach Jose Antonio Camacho said. Though Paraguay struck through an own-goal from defender Carles Puyol, the Spaniards collected themselves and controlled the pace throughout the match. The outspoken Chilavert, who stated Spain is not a very good side leading to the match, failed to deliver on his promise to score two goals against Spain and keep a clean sheet. He did fire one dangerous free kick late in the second half, but goalkeeper Iker Casillas covered it with confidence. It was sweet revenge for Spain, which was sent home by Paraguay four years ago after being held to a scoreless draw in its final match of group play. Spain has six points and plays South Africa in the closing group match on June 12. Paraguay is not out of contention yet and meets Slovenia the same day. "It was not very good to let in two goals in the second half. ... The players were distracted," said Paraguay coach Cesare Maldini, who guided Italy in the World Cup four years ago. "I was not surprised of how good Spain was. The last match with Slovenia is very important. If we beat Slovenia, we still have a chance to advance to the second round." |
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