Spain and Switzerland were the last two teams to kick their World Cup campaign off.

Spain, one of the favourites to win the World Cup, started as expected; looking comfortable on the ball, with plenty of possession. Switzerland would have been chasing shadows, if the sun were shining.

Even when Switzerland earned a corner, in the ninth minute, it was Spain who almost scored; breaking out with snappy passing, but David Villa missed the option of Sergio Ramos at the far post.

Diego Benaglio spread himself at the feet of Gerard Piqué to deny Spain, then Reto Ziegler forced a save from Iker Casillas; when he fired a low free-kick at the other end, in the 26th minute.

Switzerland worked hard to keep the Spanish attacking threat neutralised and for most part, despite a few scares, it worked.

Despite intricate flashes of brilliance from Iniesta and David Villa on the left, the dim reality is that it's goalless at half-time for the ninth time - out of sixteen matches played.

Half-time: 0:0

The second-half started as the first finished, with Spain mostly attacking down their left.

From a long Swiss clearance down the middle, the ball was flicked on then, amid plenty of rolling and tumbling in the Spain penalty area, Gelson Fernandes emerged as the unexpected hero; the European Champions a goal down.

Spain continued to press forward: Fernando Torres closed down; Alonso hits the bar; Switzerland holding out.

Spain were very nearly two goals down, with fifteen minutes to go, when Eren Derdiyok lost the defenders long enough to flick the ball onto the post with the outside of his foot.

With Spain pushing everyone forward, Switzerland continued to pose problems on the counter-attack. The minutes seemed to tick away like seconds for Spain, yet drag on like hours for Switzerland.

The Swiss fans looked nervous; five minutes away from an historical moment. Then fireworks exploded in the tiny Alpine country and car horns sounded from Appenzell to Zurich.

Spain 0 Switzerland 1