Three things we learned from Spain’s convincing 4-1 victory over Russia in Innsbruck:

• David Villa isn’t just the Man of the Match, he’s the Man of the Tournament (so far). It wasn’t just that the Valencia striker had the first hat-trick in a European championship since Holland's Patrick Kluivert in 2000, it was the way in which Villa pulled it off. Each of his three goals showed a different part of his vast skill-set. The first showed Villa's desire and willingness to run as a trailer on the break (big ups to Fernando Torres for the pass-back). The second showed Villa’s ability to make an incisive run and hit a killer one-time shot through the legs of ‘keeper Igor Akinfeev. (Credit the weaving run and assist from Andrés Iniesta.) And the third showed Villa’s skill on the ball as he beat Roman Shirokov and ripped his shot past Akinfeev once again. What a remarkable clinic on how to finish--the rarest and most valuable skill in the game (as the U.S. showed in its recent zero-goals-in-three-games tally). Villa’s transfer value was already high before today, but now it has to be up in the stratosphere.

• We’re seeing some classic case studies on how to run the counter-attack. First it was Holland on Monday; now Spain shows exactly how to run the fast-break like the Showtime Lakers in their heyday. The Russians looked like they had a chance until the 44th minute, down 1-0, when Konstantin Zyryanov made a complete hash of a short corner-kick (have we told you how much we hate short-corners?), skying his cross over the box and right to David Silva on the left side. That’s right: the key pass in Spain’s second goal was made by a Russian. Silva knew exactly what to do, hitting Joan Capdevila, who hit Iniesta, who hit Villa. Boom! 2-0. Game over.

• The Cult of Guus took a big hit today. I still have a t-shirt that I bought in South Korea in 2002; on the front is a caption-free photograph of Guus Hiddink, the miracle-working Dutch coach who led the Koreans to the World Cup semis that year. Since then Hiddink has worked further magic with PSV Eindhoven (Champions League semis) and Australia (World Cup second round), causing SI staffers to have a saying for the former Washington Diplomats player: In Guus We Trust. Today? Not so much. Yes, Hiddink got Russia into the finals, which is saying something. Yes, the Russians are playing fun (read: Dutch) attacking soccer. But now the Russians are looking at a big fat minus-3 in goal differential. And what was up with Hiddink’s treatment of Vladimir Bystrov, who came on as a sub at the start of the second half only to be taken off 24 minutes later? When was the last time you saw a coach take such a mulligan on a substitution?

Through-balls:

For what it’s worth, Cesc was offside on the fourth Spanish goal (if Russia gets aced out on goal-differential, however, it could be worth a lot) ... He may not get a lot of credit, but Capdevila was a genuine offensive factor today for Spain. It was Capdevila who sent the marvelous ball to Torres for Spain’s first goal, not Xavi (who was given the credit on ESPN). Capdevila also made a perfect link pass to Iniesta in the counter-attack that led to Spain’s second goal ... Russian defender Denis Kolodin had the single worst game of any player in Euro 2008 so far: his muff in back led directly to Spain’s first goal, he got worked time and again by Torres in the box, and he was directly responsible for Spain’s fourth goal too, firing the moronic pass that was easily intercepted by Villa. An absolute shocker of a game at this level ... Separated at Birth (courtesy of Blog pal Craig Stouffer): Portugal’s Nuno Gomes and Karate Kid-era Ralph Macchio ... Anyone know why the back of Villa’s jersey reads DAVID VILLA instead of just VILLA? Isn’t that like Kobe Bryant’s jersey reading KOBE BRYANT? ... We’re splitting hairs here, but I was still slightly more impressed with Holland than Spain. The Spanish defenders had some inexplicable give-aways deep in their own end ... We’re taking nominations for finest performance by a Brazilian-born player in the tournament. Where does the performance by Spain’s Marcos Senna stack up with Poland’s Roger Guerreiro, Portugal’s Pepe and Deco and Turkey’s Mehmet Aurélio? And does anyone find it slightly odd that three of those five naturalized Brazilians are (of all things) defensive midfielders?

Please post your comments below, and I’ll see you again after Greece-Sweden...