World Cup Roundup: Spain wins easily; Germany gets late game-winner

BERLIN – Spain looks ready to lose its title of perennial underachiever in the World Cup.

The Spaniards routed Ukraine 4-0 today in Group H, getting two goals from David Villa and one spectacular strike from Fernando Torres.

Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, the other teams in the group, each took leads in their match before Rahdi Jaidi equalized in injury time for the North Africans to make it 2-2.

Later, host Germany scored in injury time of the second half to beat Poland 1-0, the first teams to play twice at this year's World Cup.

Spain, which disappoints its fans more often than it pleases them, got off to a sensational start. And the best part of its win over Ukraine was Torres' goal in the 81st minute.

Captain Carles Puyol intercepted a pass in midfield, beat a defender with a spin and passed to Torres. He sent the ball to Raul Gonzalez, who put it back to Puyol on the edge of the area. Puyol returned it into the path of Torres, who had continued running and hit the ball to the goalkeeper's right.

Wednesday's win in Leipzig helped Spain stretch its unbeaten streak under coach Luis Aragones to 23 matches. "If we show what we can do I know we can be among the top teams at this tournament," Aragones said. "I thought it was going to be more complicated, but the second goal made Ukraine more crestfallen and the rest was easier."

While the Spaniards are making their eighth consecutive World Cup appearance, they have failed to reach the semifinals since their best result, a fourth-place finish in 1950.

Xabi Alonso scored Spain's first goal in the 13th minute with a header past Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.

Villa made it 2-0 four minutes later with a deflected free kick, and then added another in the 47th from the penalty spot after Torres was brought down by Vladyslav Vashchyuk, who was ejected. It was the first penalty kick of the tournament.

"It's painful to lose 4-0," Ukraine coach Oleh Blokhin said. "I've never lost 4-0. The players did not respect the advice of their coaches. On some occasions we were playing like the worst team in Europe."

Andriy Shevchenko, expected to shine on world soccer's biggest stage, had little effect on the match. Blokhin had hesitated to start the striker, who was returning from a knee injury.

At Munich, Jaidi scored Tunisia's equalizer in injury time, heading in Ziad Jaziri's cross from 10 yards only minutes after Sami al-Jaber had given Saudi Arabia the lead.

Al-Jaber, a 34-year-old veteran, picked up a through ball and slotted it past Tunisia goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel with his first touch in the 84th minute. The Saudi player, who came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute, has scored in three World Cups.

Jaziri had given Tunisia the lead in the 23rd minute, but Yasser al-Qahtani equalized in the 57th.

Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre said he was disappointed his team couldn't hold on to the lead.

"We don't feel like we have opened the door," Lemerre said. "We weren't very assured. While the first goal gave us a boost, it was not enough."

At Dortmund, substitute Oliver Neuville scored on a sliding kick off a brilliant cross from another sub, David Odonkor, in second-half injury time.

The hosts, with a man advantage for the final 15 minutes, controlled the action, only to be frustrated by Artur Borac, who made a handful of spectacular saves. He was helped by the crossbar, which was hit by Miroslav Klose with a header and Michael Ballack with a kick in the 90th minute.

"We had enough chances," Klose said.

And one of them finally paid off.

Odonkor broke free on the right wing and his perfect pass was booted home by Neuville. The German players mobbed Neuville as the crowd, previously frustrated at seeing their heroes thwarted, erupted in cheers.

"The goal came very late, but it was well-deserved," Ballack said. "We won a lot of challenges. ... We were better on challenges than we were against Costa Rica."

Germany now has six points and is on the verge of advancing in Group A. Poland, which has no points after losing 2-0 to Ecuador in its opener, must beat Costa Rica in its final game of the first round to have any chance of moving on.

And if Ecuador beats or ties Costa Rica on Thursday, the Poles are eliminated.

Two miles from the stadium in the city center, police clashed with dozens of German hooligans two hours before gametime.

Throughout the day local officers had teamed with Polish authorities to troll for troublemakers — and they found a crowd of them in one central square. Police said at least 120 Germans were arrested after they threw bottles and chairs at officers; 60 Poles identified as hooligans were arrested in scattered incidents throughout the day.