Sublime Spaniards and an Irish Exit

Well, one thing is settled in Group C: Ireland will be going home on Monday. The rest, in keeping with current Euro 2012 trends, is still up in the air.

Spain dispatched with Ireland in a manner so clinical and relentless that even the most hardened fans of the Boys in Green were begging to be put out their second half misery come Silva's second for Spain...and that was only four minutes into the half.  You can't fault the Irish (or their fans, the best in the tournment imho); however, with the class differential between the two sides was somewhat akin to the divergence in stock price between Apple and Blackberry, and being down only one goal at halftime was considered a flattering scoreline for Giovanni Trapattoni's men.

Point in fact: a sub-par Xabi Alonso completed more passes in the first half than the entire Irish side.

And this wasn't the ineffectual possession of the Dutch variety.  Of 27 Spanish shots, 15 were on target, eliciting a number of excellent saves from Irish stalwart, Shay Given.  A special shout out goes out to one Fernando Torres, who put an abysmal opener and shambolic season at Chelsea behind him to reclaim form unseen since Roman Abramovich played Count Dracula to Torres' Mina Murphy (and, if you haven't gotten the full metaphor yet, Vincente del Bosque assumes the role of van Helsing's gang in this set-up).

Del Bosque's brilliance was on full display here.  While some questioned his decision to leave out Fabregas, del Bosque rightly recognized the great fortune of the Irish match-up.  What better conditions could there be for your crestfallen hit man to regain his killer instinct than against the weakest team in your group?  Not only would Xavi and Iniesta be able to hold court in the midfield, providing quality service unseen since Heidi Fleiss' Hollywood heyday, but literally Torres' only responsibility would be to put the ball on target.  And where El Nino had eyes for anything but goal in the first game, he firmly fixed his gaze upon it this time around, suddenly jolted from his semi-catatonic stupor after his fourth minute strike, he seemed a man fully in control of his own destiny on the brace.

It is all about confidence, after all. Even the man he replaced in the starting XI could not help but show his delight at his compatriot's return to form.