Mendieta relieved following torrid year

SPANISH midfielder Gaizka Mendieta went from zero to hero with his decisive spot-kick in Spain’s 3-2 World Cup penalty shootout victory over Ireland yesterday.

Mendieta had come on as a second-half substitute and kept his cool to slot home Spain’s vital fifth penalty after they had missed two of their four previous kicks. Ireland failed to find the net with three of its five efforts.