Villa: Penalty miss not due to pressure

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New Barcelona striker David Villa refused to blame pressure for his second-half penalty miss which denied him a hat-trick as Spain's 2-0 win over Honduras put their FIFA World Cup™ back on track.

After their shock 1-0 defeat by Switzerland in their opening match, Villa inspired his side to a comfortable win over a limited Honduras side on Monday at Ellis Park to give them three points in Group H. Spain still need to beat Chile on Friday to be sure of reaching the last 16.

The Hondurans looked pedestrian as Spain attacked in waves and Villa's brilliance shone for his goals on 17 and 51 minutes, but he failed in his hat-trick bid when he hit his 62nd-minute penalty attempt wide of the right post.

"I just missed the shot, I have been practising these kicks all my life, but I missed that one," said the 28-year-old, who signed for Barcelona last month. We were 2-0 up at that point so there was no real pressure."

The UEFA EURO 2008 winners have struggled to impress in South Africa so far and Villa said there is a long way to go if Spain are to win their first FIFA World Cup title. "We still need to beat Chile, but there is a long way to go before we can even think about being world champions, both in terms of time and matches," he said

Spain must now beat Chile - who defeated Switzerland 1-0 earlier Monday - on Friday in Pretoria to be sure of making the knockout phase, while Honduras will play for pride in Bloemfontein against the Swiss, who can still qualify.