体坛英语新闻：Villa refused to take pressure as excuse for penalty miss

JOHANNESBURG, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Spain's striker David Villa didn't take pressure as an excuse for his second-half penalty miss which denied him a hat-trick in Spain's 2-0 win over Honduras on Monday.

After the shock 1-0 defeat by Switzerland in their opening match, Villa inspired his side by scoring two goals on 17 and 51 minutes on Monday at Ellis Park to give them three points in Group H.

The striker failed in his hat-trick bid when hit his 62nd minute penalty attempt wide of the right post.

"I just missed the shot, I have been practising these kicks all my life, but I missed that one," said the 28-year-old, who signed for Barcelona last month.

"We were 2-0 up at that point so there was no real pressure," He said.

Spain's David Villa (R) misses a penalty kick during the 2010 World Cup group H soccer match against Honduras at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, June 21, 2010.

The 2008 Europe champion still need to beat Chile on Friday to be sure of reaching the last 16.

"We still need to beat Chile, but there is a long way to go before we can even think about being world champions, both in terms of time and matches," he said.