David Villa kept the European champions in World Cup contention,helping Spain into the semi-finals with a tournament-leading five goals which have offset Fernando Torress miserable form. Villa scored in the 83rd minute with a shot that ricocheted off both posts before spinning over the line. Hes at the top of his form. Hes first to the ball every time, coach Vicente del Bosque said. Villa had that hunger for goal that allowed him to convert. The Barcelona-bound striker is the first Spanish player to score in four consecutive World Cup matches,and has moved within one goal of matching Raul Gonzalez national record of 44. I live to score,so you can say Im pretty happy, Villa said. Things are working out,so lets just hope it continues on this way. While Villa soared,Torres continued to stumble. The Liverpool striker was replaced by Cesc Fabregas after 56 ineffective minutes in which his touch was poor,his runs were without conviction and he was pushed around by a physical Paraguay team. Physically,he is fine, Del Bosque said. We took him off because the team was not fine-tuning the game. We hope he will do better in the last two matches. Torres missed a large part of the preceding Premier League season due to various injuries. He underwent knee surgery in April,and has only properly returned to playing at the tournament in South Africa. Its been a difficult tournament for me because my fitness is bad,but Im improving every game, Torres said. Im happy for the things I do in the game and feeling much better,but I still have to improve. The main thing is that Spain got into the semifinals. Hopefully,I get the chance to score soon. Torres said Villa has been doing a fine job,scoring five of the teams six goals at the tournament so far. Hes been very,very important for us,a key for Spain scoring a lot of goals, said Torres. He gives us the opportunity to go forward and think about winning the World Cup. Like Del Bosque,Villa backed his strike partner ahead of Wednesdays semifinal match against Germany. Were not at all (worried about Torres),since we know what a great player he is, Villa said. Surely hell be back to his best as he was against Germany (in the 2008 final).
