Carlos Queiroz is something of a spin doctor, taking his Portugal side out of the World Cup with the remark that their fans had come to admire the “brilliance” of their play. In midfield they were sometimes lovely to watch but the cold fact remains that they only ever scored against North Korea and when Cristiano Ronaldo left Green Point Stadium he replied to the question of why Portugal had failed vto make any real impact on their neighbours with the observation: “Ask Queiroz.” Spain were not wildly impressive but then with Xavi and Andres Iniesta in complete control of midfield, they did not have to be. But for the excellence of Eduardo in goal, David Villa might have scored more than just the one. Despite a bright beginning Fernando Torres looked a shadow of the player who had graced the European Championship and on the second anniversary of his winner in the final, he was substituted with less than an hour gone. Like Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba he was another star player who came to South Africa seemingly exhausted by the demands of an English season. Worringly for Torres, the man who replaced him – the considerably less famous Fernando Llorente of Athletic Bilbao looked impressive. Time is running out for Torres and his manager, Vicente del Bosque, is not a sentimentalist.