Villa, Silva double up for Spain

Valencia pair David Silva and David Villa scored two goals apiece to power runaway Group Five leaders Spain to a 5-0 rout of Belgium in World Cup qualifying on Saturday night.

Silva opened the floodgates with the first just before the break and the European champions ran away with it in the second half.

Villa, who had missed a first-half penalty, and Gerard Pique netted within a minute before Silva and Villa were on target again as Spain cruised to victory.

Vicente del Bosque's side maintained their 100 per cent record to lead the group by six points from second-placed Bosnia, who beat Armenia 2-0 earlier in the day. Belgium are fourth, 14 points off the pace.

"We played very well from the start and should have been further ahead at the break," Villa told Spanish television after taking his international goal tally to 33.

"It was a fair result when you consider the number of chances we created."

Belgium were forced to field a third-choice goalkeeper because of injuries but Jean-François Gillet made a confident start as Spain poured forward.

He blocked a Villa shot from point-blank range early on and then saved his penalty.

Anthony Vanden Borre tripped the Valencia striker and when he drove his penalty straight down the middle, Gillet's trailing leg turned the ball wide.

Villa made amends just before the break when he threaded a ball through to Silva and the latter swivelled to fire the ball into the corner.

Immediately after the restart Fernando Torres headed wide with the goal gaping before Villa cut in from the left to beat Gillet from the edge of the area in the 49th minute.

A minute later Barcelona defender Pique surged into the Belgian half and played the ball out wide to Villa.

Pique continued his run into the area and when Villa returned the pass he coolly controlled the ball, waited for the keeper to commit himself and stroked in the third.

Silva curled in his second from outside the box in the 68th minute and the visitors were ripped apart again five minutes from time when substitute Cesc Fabregas beat the offside trap and unselfishly squared for Villa to complete the rout.

After the match, Spain coach Del Bosque warned his side not to think the hard work in their quest to reach the World Cup finals is over, despite continuing their perfect record in Group Five.

Despite making it seven wins out of seven against Belgium, Spain are still not assured of a place in next year's finals, because second-placed Bosnia-Herzegovina are six points behind with three games remaining.

One of those matches sees Spain travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the final round of fixtures, and Del Bosque will be hoping his side have their World Cup ticket booked well before that game.

"It's a pity that after seven wins in seven encounters we still aren't qualified, and that's largely because of the pressure by Bosnia - who have won again," Del Bosque said.

"We need to continue pushing on, because there are still four points needed to be mathematically sure of going through - and we cannot take anything for granted until we've achieved it."

Spain are next in action against Estonia in Merida on Wednesday, when they could secure qualification to the World Cup finals depending on what happens in that match and how Bosnia-Herzegovina do in their tricky home fixture against Turkey.

Del Bosque is hoping the fans in Merida will give his side the same sort of support they received in La Coruna last weekend - and that his players can respond with a similar performance.

"I hope we can enjoy it again. The fans here at the Riazor were magnificent, sensational and extraordinary from the moment we arrived - both in quantity and quality," he said.