Vázquez fires Spain into World Cup last 16

Espanyol striker Álvaro Vázquez led Spain's rout of Australia in Manizales in the final round of group-stage matches on Saturday afternoon (local time) to seal the under-20s place in the round of 16 at the World Cup. The 5-1 victory over Jan Versleijen's side gave Spain a perfect record in Group C of three wins, with 11 goals scored and just two conceded. Vázquez's treble also shot the young striker to the top of the scoring charts at the tournament in Colombia.

Dani Pacheco provided the pass for Sergi Roberto to rifle past Mark Birighitti with just a minute on the clock and, five minutes later, the Liverpool midfielder set up a clever second with a defense-splitting ball for Vázquez to slot in his first. It took the Espanyol forward just 12 minutes to complete his hat-trick, with Sergio Canales opening up the Australian back line for Vázquez to streak through on goal and Pacheco providing an inch-perfect corner for the Spain number 20 to head powerfully past Birighitti.

Kerem Bulut pulled one back for the Socceroos with a fine individual effort just before the half hour but any slim hope of a revival was quashed four minutes later when Vázquez was bundled over in the area. Sergio Canales, whose own resurgent form at the tournament bodes well for Valencia, his temporary employer after a loan agreement was agreed with Real Madrid, crashed home from the spot to complete a miserable 30 minutes for Australia.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Spain reached the final; after six minutes we were out of the World Cup," Versleijen said after the match. "Spain is an excellent side that plays wonderful soccer. I couldn't say who their rival could be, but Nigeria is a good team and Colombia too."

Before Spain can think along similar lines, it must first play South Korea, which scraped through Group A behind Colombia and France as one of the best third-placed teams. If Spain reaches the quarterfinals, Brazil is a possible opponent. Despite the emphatic nature of his side's victory, Spain coach Julen Lopetegui sounded a note of caution ahead of the knock-out phase. "That people made us favorites [against Australia] didn't score us any goals. What we achieved, we achieved through hard work and effort in every game. And we must continue to work hard because if up to now the games have been complicated, from here they will be extremely difficult, whoever our opponent is."