Gary Neville need not lose any sleep over his concerns for Spain after they thumped seven goals past Costa Rica to leave the pundit eating his words.
La Roja put their opening group stage opponents to the sword with a devastating display of passing prowess and clinical finishing to start their World Cup campaign with a bang. Dani Olmo got Spain up and running as early as the 11th minute with a well-taken dink over the goalkeeper and they didn't look back from there.
Marco Asensio soon doubled their advantage before Ferran Torres got his first of the night from the penalty spot to put Spain well in command by half-time. Torres bagged his second shortly after the break before goals from Gavi, Carlos Soler and Alvaro Morata completed the rout, leaving Neville no doubt feeling a little sheepish.
Prior to the game, Neville and his fellow ITV pundits were discussing Spain's chances in the tournament. Spain failed to get past the last 16 stage four years ago and were eliminated at the group stage in 2014 as holders, having won the World Cup in 2010 with an all-star cast.
Luis Enrique's squad is the third youngest assembled at this World Cup in Qatar, and speaking ahead of kick-off, Neville had some concerns that Spain are still a work in progress, and felt their lack of firepower in attack could hold them back.
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"They're a little bit in transition," Neville said. "Still struggling to produce forwards, and if we think back to 2010 the exceptional team that won the World Cup they had exceptional characters at the back like [Sergio] Ramos, [Gerard] Pique, in the midfield Xabi Alonso, [Sergio] Busquets, [Andres] Iniesta, Xavi, and then they had David Villa and Pedro, so they are a little bit '2010-light' but they’ve got some great young players in Pedri and Gavi, fantastic players but I worry about them up front."
Spain started the match with Torres, Olmo and Asensio in attack - all of whom got on the scoresheet in the first half as they swept a hapless Costa Rica away. Primary back-up striker Morata then replaced Torres and got in on the act in injury-time when Spain were already home and dry.
Torres was not given the chance to get his hat-trick as Enrique began making changes to save his players for their next match as soon as the Manchester City forward had made it 4-0. Spain face Germany next on Sunday in what has become an even more crucial fixture after Japan's shock victory in the other group clash earlier in the day.
Defeat would see Germany eliminated at the group stage for the second World Cup in succession while Spain will be keen to get a win to boost their chances of finishing top of Group E. Neville wasn't convinced by their seven-goal mauling however, insisting the ineptitude of Costa Rica made it an easy night's work for Spain.
"I can’t just measure them at all off that," Neville said after the game. "I know they play Germany on Sunday so we look forward to seeing them in that game but Costa Rica are the first team in 32 years to not have a shot on goal in a World Cup finals match, forget target, not had a shot on goal all game, it can’t happen.
"Those players [Costa Rica] have had multiple World Cups, knocked England out of the Group Stage in 2014 five of those players, they were fantastic and had great energy. There was nothing out there today.
"We know Spain keep the ball, they had the most possession in the last European Championships, we know that they do that game-in-game-out but that is as bad as it gets from Costa Rica, a team who’ve got a lot of experience and quality in the last eight to ten years."
