Vienna - Spain confirmed their status as one of the favourites for the World Cup with a 5-1 romp away to feeble Austria on Wednesday. The rout took place in Vienna, the city where Spain cruised to the Euro 2008 title 17 months ago.
Spanish league top scorer David Villa led the rout with two handsome goals, Cesc Fabregas, Dani Guiza and Pablo Hernandez scored the other goals for "La Seleccion".
"We played very well tonight," said Villa, "and we could really have scored more goals."
Defender Sergio Ramos expressed the hope that "we can take this form all the way into the World Cup."
Spain have an astonishing record since the beginning of 2007, winning 40 games, drawing three and losing just one. This is why they are again top of the FIFA rankings.
Jacob Jantscher shot Austria into the lead after eight minutes, thanks to a wicked deflection off Ramos. But Fabregas made it 1-1 just two minutes later, after being set up by David Silva.
In the 21st minute Villa put Spain ahead, on a classy pass from Andres Iniesta. Seven minutes later Austrian anchorman Yasin Pehlivan was sent off for a horrible foul on Sergio Busquets - and the hosts were in trouble from then on.
The elegant Silva set up Villa to make it 3-1 just before half-time.
The one-way traffic continued after the interval, with the Austrians completely overwhelmed by the Spanish attacks. Guiz took advantage of more sloppy defending to make it 4-1 in the 57th minute, then Pablo completed the rout with a low cross-shot.
