Spanish football icon Raul shook off a dose of the substitutes' blues to help relaunch Spain's World Cup campaign in a pulsating 3-1 win over Tunisia in Group H on Monday.
Raul came off the bench at the start of the second half to equalise Jawer Mnari's shock eighth-minute opener for Roger Lemerre's former African champions to settle the nerves of Luis Aragones and his players.
Atletico Madrid's Fernando Torres then struck the first of two goals after beating the Tunisian defence to a through ball from second half substitute Cesc Fabregas.
Torres, who also scored in Spain's 4-0 thrashing of Ukraine, finished Spain's top scorer on the night after he beat Tunisia keeper Ali Boumnijel from the penalty spot to take his World Cup tally to three goals.
However it was Raul's revival, after what has been an uncertain start to his third World Cup, that stole the show as Spain booked their second round ticket with a match to spare.
Torres admitted it was Raul's goal that was the catalyst for their fightback.
"For a long time nothing was going right for us up front but we were persistent," he said.
"I'm really happy I scored two goals, but Raul's goal was really important for our team. It kept us going."
Coming off a desperate season with Real Madrid due to a three-month injury layoff, Raul has looked down in the dumps ever since realising that his lack of match form would keep him down the Spain pecking order.
When he came on for the start of the second half he took some time to find his rhythm. But when he did he looked back to his old self, roaming the area looking for space and waiting to pounce on any loose balls.
In the 71st minute Raul found an opening when he held off his marker to pounce on a rebound in the area and beat keeper Ali Boumnijel from six yards out.
The goal took his record for Spain to 44 in 97 international appearances, but Raul was characteristically modest.
"It was very important for the team to get back on terms. It calmed us down and it says a lot for the team that we hung on in there and came back," he said.
It could however give Aragones a potential selection headache once the going gets tough in the second round after the final group match against Saudi Arabia on Friday. So far Aragones has favoured Liverpool's Luis Garcia playing behind Torres and on-form Valencia striker David Villa, who finished the Primera Liga's second top goalscorer behind Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona last season, in a promising 4-3-3.
However despite creating plenty of chances in the first half against the strudy north Africans, Tunisia's tough defensive tactics called for a change of plan. Aragones admitted that Raul had provided the perfect answer to Tunisia's physical presence at the back.
"We don't have big, two-metre tall players in our team - but we do have Raul, and he is able to react quickly," said Aragones, who also highlighted the sterling work of Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas.
"The way Cesc and Raul interpreted our kind of game worked perfectly. In the end we deserved to win."
Source: AFP
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