Murcia, Spain - European champions Spain made a sound start to their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign on Saturday, beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 in the eastern town of Murcia.

Spain picked up from where they left off at Euro 2008, with another slick display of possession football and precise passing.

The scorer of the only goal in the one-sided Group 5 clash was Euro top marksman David Villa, who had earlier missed a penalty.

"The penalty was a pity," said Villa, "since I haven't missed many recently...but it was lovely to get the goal in the end."

The Valencia striker added that "the result was a little bit tight, given all that we did tonight."

Villa played upfield alone in a 4-5-1 formation, because of injury to Euro partner-in-crime Fernando Torres.

Spain manager Vicente del Bosque, making his competitive debut, claimed that he was "happy because of the three points."

"It was quite difficult for us," he added. "We had to work really hard for the win."

The only goal finally came in the 57th minute, to the delight and relief of a capacity crowd starting to worry about the solid Bosnian defence.

Cesc Fabregas played a lovely through ball for Villa, who skipped around keeper Kenan Hasagic and scored from the tightest of angles.

It was the least that Spain deserved for all their domination and bright ideas.

Xavi Hernandez almost headed the hosts ahead in the 25th minute, on a centre from Barcelona team-mate Andres Iniesta.

Two minutes later midfield anchorman Marcos Senna hot the Bosnia crossbar with a fierce drive.

In the 36th minute the lively Diego Capel was pulled down by Samir Muratovic in the box, only for Villa to surprisingly put the penalty wide.

The one-way traffic continued into the second half - and led to Villa's goal.

Spain should have increased their lead towards the end but - the same as in the Euro final against Germany - lacked a cool finish to culminate all their handsome approach play. (dpa)