European champions Spain moved to within touching distance of the World Cup finals after coasting to a 5-0 win over Belgium in La Coruna, Spain, on Saturday. Valencia duo David Silva and David Villa both scored twice with Barcelona defender Gerard Pique also on target in the five-goal romp.
The double from Villa, who also missed a penalty, raises his international goals tally to 33 in just 51 games as he closes in on the national record of 44 held by Real Madrid striker Raul.
Spain have a flawless seven wins at the top of Group 5, six points ahead of second-placed Bosnia Herzegovina who won 2-0 at Armenia.
If Spain beat Estonia in Merida on Wednesday and Bosnia fail to beat Turkey, they will qualify for the World Cup finals with two games to spare. Villarreal midfielder Marcos Senna failed to recover from a knock sustained at the weekend so emerging Barcelona star Sergi Busquets, 21, won his seventh cap starting alongside Xabi Alonso in central midfield.
Injuries meant Belgium had to hand a tough debut to goalkeeper Jean Francois Gillet.
Gillet had a busy game throughout and Villa went close twice in the opening 10 minutes.
Villa zipped a shot just wide of post in the eighth minute and then spurned a golden chance two minutes later, with the debutant goalkeeper blocking it with his legs.
Belgium were struggling and Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen collected the first yellow card of the match for hacking down Fernando Torres.
In the 21st minute Villa won a soft penalty by wrongfooting Anthony Vanden Borre and picked himself up for the spot-kick.
The Valencia striker opted to strike his penalty down the middle and Gillet saved with his trailing foot. Villa then hit the post before setting up Silva for the goal on 41 minutes with a delightful pass. Silva made no mistake with a clinical finish for only his fourth international goal.
After a frustrating first half Villa got his goal four minutes after the break with a trademark right-footed finish.
Sixty seconds later center-half Pique showed a striker’s composure in the penalty area to make it 3-0 before Silva smashed in a terrific second goal.
Villa grabbed the final goal of the game on 85 minutes as Spain tore the visitors apart on the counter attack.
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