Spain stretched their unbeaten run to sixteen games with an uninspiring 1-0 victory against the USA in Santander last night that owed everything to a flash of individual genius from Barça midfielder Xavi Hernández.

With Fernando Torres struggling with a sprained ankle, David Villa ruled out with a bruised thigh, and Andres Iniesta still recovering from a bout of gastroentiritis, Luis Aragonés's attacking options were admittedly limited.

However, that the sparse crowd, disappointed that the first forty-five minutes only yielded a couple of half-chances, should feel justifying in booing the players off at the interval, does not augur well with only days to go before Spain's Euro 2008 opener against Russia on June 10th.

Liga top scorer Daniel Güiza replaced the ineffectual Torres in the lone striker role at half-time, but the best chances of a more fluent second-half display fell to the midfield pairing of Marcos Senna, who hit the post, as did Xavi - from a free-kick - before he burst through the American's defensive pack to break the deadlock with twelve minutes to go.