All Whites refocusing after being mauled by Spain

New Zealand's footballers are refocusing their Confederations Cup soccer ambitions after Spain sauntered to a 5-0 victory in their tournament opener in South Africa today.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres blitzed a hat-trick within 17 minutes while Cesc Fabregas and David Villa also scored before the 48th minute as the European champions threatened to rack up a double-digit margin at Rustenberg's Royal Bafokeng Stadium.

Mercifully, the world's No 1 ranked side eased off noticeably in the second spell allowing New Zealand's outwitted defence to avoid further embarrassment.

Having escaped total humiliation, the All Whites have switched their attention to more amenable opponents in group A -- Iraq and South Africa.

New Zealand must take at least a point off South Africa -- who earlier played out an uninspiring goalless draw with the Iraqis -- on Thursday (6.30am NZT) to keep their faint hopes of making the semifinals alive.

"I still think we have something to contribute to this tournament and I still think there's the opportunity to cause some surprises," All Whites captain Tim Brown said.

There was certainly no surprises when Spain extended their current winning streak to 13 matches -- and unbeaten sequence to 33 -- though the initial onslaught was particularly severe.

The Spanish were magnificent from the kick-off, a succession of passing movements toying with a New Zealand side that held World Cup holders Italy to a 4-3 scoreline in last week's final warm-up match.

Any feel-good factor from that match was obliterated once Torres curled the opener past Glen Moss after Fabregas supplied an inch perfect pass.

Torres sidefooted home eight minutes later and scored the quickest hat-trick in Confederations Cup history when he rose above defender Tony Lochhead to thud a header past a helpless Moss.

Arsenal captain Fabregas tapped in the fourth and then Spain profited from comical defending eight minutes into the second half when Andy Boyens' swish at a Torres cross nudged it to the unmarked David Villa.

"We have to put things in perspective -- we're playing against the best players in the world and you can't afford to have that kind of beginning and you can't afford to give them that amount of space," Brown said.

"We can learn from our mistakes and secondly we take some positives form the second half because there I think there were some," said Brown, pointing to the 1-0 second half scoreline.

Coach Ricki Herbert was also optimistic, realising South Africa and Iraq are not blessed with the quality of Spain's personnel.

"In one way it's fantastic to get these opportunities but on the flipside it was always going to be tough for us," said Herbert, a member of the All Whites side humbled 5-0 by Brazil at the 1982 World Cup.

"We'll bounce back. We've got two big games coming up and with the earlier draw between South Africa and Iraq, this result doesn't do too much damage to the group yet."

Herbert had to go to his bench as early as the 27th minute when Jeremy Brockie was dragged off for defensive midfielder Jeremy Christie, while young strikers Chris James and Kris Bright replaced Shane Smeltz and Chris Killen late in the piece.

Boyens at least tried to put a brave face on his gaffe that gifted Villa his 29th goal in 45 internationals.

"At least we weren't one-up and that was the tying goal," the central defender said.

Defender Ben Sigmund, who has been out of action for four months after hip surgery, is likely to come into contention against South Africa after watching the Spanish display from the bench.