Russia fought bravely to shut Spain out during the first half. During that period of play, both teams traded shots, with Spain being slightly ahead on statistics but not landing anything in the net.
It took just six minutes from the resumption of play for Xavi Hernandez to set his team on course for victory.
From there, Russia seemed demoralized. Although they had been able to give Spain a decent match in the first half, they managed only three shots in the second.
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Spain took nine shots in the second half, three of them successful. When Daniel Guiza landed the second one with only about 15 minutes left to play, the Russian fire was gone. David Silva kicking the third about ten minutes later sealed the deal.
To the credit of the Russians, it must be said that the Spaniards were playing a dirty game, seemingly intent upon causing as much physical harm to their opponent as possible.
But to the victor go the spoils, and the Russians will need to examine where they failed and address it. Hopefully when the World Cup rolls around, they will be ready.
The win means that Spain is now almost certain to walk away from the next match as European Champions.
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