David Villa scored twice and should have completed his hat-trick but Spain earn vital three points

David Villa struck twice as Spain got their World Cup campaign back on track with a comfortable victory over Honduras, but with more clinical finishing the Euro 2008 champions could have scored a hatful.

Villa opened the scoring in the first half with a stunning finish into the top corner and doubled the lead with a deflected drive from distance, before he missed a chance to complete his hat-trick by firing a penalty wide.

After the much-fancied Spanish had slipped to a shock defeat in their opening game against Switzerland on Wednesday, they needed to produce a performance in front of a large contingent of their expectant fans at Ellis Park.

After Chile's 1-0 win over the Swiss earlier in the day they knew defeat would end their interest in the tournament, but that was never a realistic proposition as they dominated proceedings from the outset.

Playing with an intensity that was badly lacking against Switzerland they swarmed all over Honduras and could have been 3-0 up by the time Villa eventually scored, as Fernando Torres mis-kicked, Sergio Ramos headed over from point-blank range and Villa's 25-yard screamer cannoned off the crossbar.

When Villa did break the deadlock in the 25th minute, he showed why Barcelona have just spent £35m to acquire his services.

Trapped against the left touchline he showed a devastating turn of pace to speed in-between two defenders and slam a shot into the top corner from inside the box.

The Hondurans simply were not good enough to quell the onslaught and Spain flooded forward at will as Xavi missed Jesus Navas's cross by inches and then Torres headed a golden chance into the ground before the Liverpool star ballooned another chance haplessly over from inside the box.

Villa was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after he aimed a slap in the direction of Emilipo Izaguirre, but soon after the break he wrapped it up when Xavi fed him just outside the Honduras area and his right-foot shot flew in via the outstretched leg of defender Osman Chavez.

After Ramos fired inches wide from the edge of the box Villa was presented with a glorious opportunity to score a World Cup hat-trick when Izaguirre brought Navas down in the area, only for the striker to step up and slot his spot-kick past the post.

Honduras could barely get into Spain's half let alone create a chance of their own, though on one occasion David Suazo did send a left-foot shot wide from outside the box - but that was as close as Iker Casillas came to being put under pressure on a comfortable night for the Spanish goalkeeper.

With the game won Vicente del Bosque made changes and the introduction of Cesc Fabregas almost lifted the roof off Ellis Park when, 16 seconds after being introduced, he beat the offside trap and rounded the keeper only to see his shot hacked off the line by Chavez.

Villa saw another hat-trick opportunity go begging when Sergio Mendoza's brilliant last-ditch block prevented him from tapping in, but Spain probably already had one eye on Friday's crunch tie against Chile in Pretoria.

If Switzerland beat Honduras in their final game, it is a match Del Bosque's team probably have to win against the Group H leaders if Spain are to qualify for the knock-out stages.

Spain	2-0	Honduras	FT
Villa, 17, 51	(HT 1-0)
Team
Spain 01 Casillas Captain 03 Pique 05 Puyol 11 Capdevila 15 Sergio Ramos (17 Arbeloa, 76) 08 Xavi (10 Fabregas, 65) 14 Alonso 16 Busquets 22 G Jesus Navas 07 Villa 09 Torres (13 Mata, 70)		Honduras 18 Valladares 02 Chavez 03 Figueroa 21 Izaguirre Yellow card 23 Mendoza 08 Wilson Palacios 13 Espinoza (12 Georgie Welcome, 45) 19 Turcios Yellow card (07 Nunez, 63) 20 Guevara Captain 11 Suazo (10 Jerry Palacios, 84) 15 Martinez
12 Valdes, 23 Reina, 02 Albiol, 04 Marchena, 17 Arbeloa, 06 Iniesta, 10 Fabregas, 20 Javi Martinez, 21 Silva, 13 Mata, 18 Pedrito, 19 Llorente		Substitutes: 01 Ricardo Canales, 22 Donis Escober, 04 Johnny Palacios, 05 Bernardez, 14 Garcia, 16 Mauricio Sabillon, 06 Thomas, 07 Nunez, 17 Alvarez, 09 Pavon, 10 Jerry Palacios, 12 Georgie Welcome
Venue: Ellis Park Referee: Y Nishimura Attendance: 54,386