New Delhi, July 3 -- Spain lived up to its pre-tournament expectations with a commanding display in the World Cup knockout stage after an unconvincing group campaign. Despite finishing the opening phase unbeaten, the team's performances had fallen short of the standards expected from one of the competition's favourites.

The knockout round, however, brought out Spain's best. Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice and Pedro Porro added a second-half goal as La Roja cruised to a 3-0 victory over Austria. The result secured Spain's first World Cup knockout win since its title-winning run in 2010.

From the opening whistle, Spain dictated the tempo with fluid attacking moves and a disciplined defensive performance. The emphatic victory not only underli...