Spain vs. Republic of Ireland: Torres Finds Redemption as Spain Find Form

Need a striker? Spain's got a striker.

Need a reason to follow the favorites again? Muchas gracias, El Niño.

Pardon. That's Señor Torres to you, and to me, and to everyone else who laughed and pointed and cackled and sneered over the past 18 months while Fernando Torres huffed and puffed and failed to justify his mega-millions Chelsea transfer fee.

Amusing as it was—and at times it was downright droll—that time is over now. Where once there was only the boy, now we see the man, and a damn fine goal scorer at that.

Never mind all the noise for now. Two goals will never be enough to justify £50 million, but that's not the point.

On Thursday at Euro 2012, Torres' two goals led Spain to a 4-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland. And with those two goals and those three points, Spain seized control of a tricky Group C and once again etched their elegant stamp on a major tournament.

In other words, it's time to start thinking about a Spanish repeat. If you ever doubted them, that is.

Giovanni Trapattoni's Irish side was dour, no doubt, but Torres and Spain impressed all the same.

Four minutes were all Torres needed. Four minutes to show Vicente del Bosque just how necessary a striker really is.

As fundamentally strange as that might sound, Spain were almost good enough Sunday against Italy to make us ask.

Using an experimental—or suicidal, depending on your viewpoint—4-6-0 formation, the Spaniards fell behind Italy in the second half only to rescue themselves with some trademark tiki-taka and a suitably pretty goal courtesy of midfielder-playing-center-forward Cesc Fabregas.

Del Bosque didn't make the same mistake twice.

On Thursday, he drafted Torres into his starting XI against what promised to be a defensive-minded Ireland. It worked, and fast.

Torres poached his opener, pouncing on the ball inside the Irish box, gliding past a lead-footed defender and scorching the net with a bazooka blast past Shay Given's face at the near post.

It took until the second half for Torres to score again, but the wait was worth it. After David Silva's cheeky turn-and-pass strike gave Spain a 2-0 lead in the 49th minute, Torres made it three 20 minutes from time.

Silva, splendid as ever throughout, slipped Torres free with a slide-rule pass from the midfield. With the Irish defense chasing, Torres slotted his second around Given and into the side netting at the near post.

And this time, he silenced even his most stubborn detractors.

The first one he never had time to think about. It was instinct, a concoction brewed from years of training and practice.

The second was something else. This time Torres had a moment to think, whether it was about goals or misses or contracts or transfers or doubters or anything else that might have popped into his head at that moment.

Whatever he thought about, the result was beautiful, coincidentally much like during the good ol' days of 2008.

Fabregas replaced him four minutes later and even scored a rocket of his own, but that won't matter. Come Monday against Croatia, Torres will start.

And Spain will be better because of it.

Spain's midfield draws praise the way Stringer Bell drew wiretaps in his prime. But without a focal point, they're Arsenal with more flair, no Robin van Persie and significantly less adventurous hair.

With Torres—and, of course, Xavi, Iniesta, Silva and the rest—they're the favorites. And that's appropriate, because Torres wasn't the only one making statements in Gdansk.

On Wednesday, Germany stormed to the front of the pack behind Mario Gomez's double and heaping portions of Schweinsteiger, Ozil and Müller.

On Thursday, Spain raised them an El Niño brace, a David Silva master-class and the best midfield in the world.

It would almost be a shame if they didn't duke it out one more time.

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