The Spanish National Team has impressively reached the semifinals of the World Championship

which is being held in the French town of La Roche-Sur-Yon - crushing Mozambique 9-0 after a match characterized by the 'manita' (5-goal victory) that Spanish captain Pedro Gil scored against the African team's goalkeeper.

With a team consisting mostly of players who play in Europe like Mário Rodrigues (RAC/France), Nuno Araújo (Valongo/Portugal), Bruno Pinto, and Frederico Saraiva (SC Braga/Portugal), more was expected from the squad led by coach Pedro Nunes. While they held on in the first half (2-0), they succumbed to the speed and effectiveness of Quim Pauls' team in the second half.

With Gil shining brightly, supported by Josep Lamas with three goals, Mozambique couldn't do much against the Spanish powerhouse, which scored five goals in the last six minutes of the match. With this victory on Thursday, Spain has now gone seventy matches without a defeat, with 67 wins and 3 draws since 2003.

Germany will be Spain's opponent this Friday in the semifinals, after surprisingly eliminating Italy in the quarterfinals with a score of 7-6.