Always accorded respect going into a tournament, never awarded the trophy at the end, the Spanish at last have a crown to take home.

And all it took was 90 minutes of dominating, visually esthetic soccer and a pair of first-half goals from Pablo Gonzalez to beat Japan 4-0 on Saturday for the Fifa World Youth Championship.

Despite boasting some of the world's foremost clubs, Spain's national teams always have been the great underachiever. Except for the 1992 Olympic gold it won on home soil, it has never shone at world level.

``We're so proud,'' team captain Pablo Orbaiz said. ``Everything is whizzing around. The team has played fabulously. Camaraderie and hard work gets you these things.''

The victory avenged somewhat Spain's 1-0 loss to Brazil in the 1985 u-20 World Cup final and the pair of goals for Pablo gave him a share of the tournament scoring crown with Mali's Mahamadou Dissawith five goals.

In the third-place game earlier Saturday, Mali defeated Uruguay 1-0 to earn the bronze medal.

As it had been throughout the u-20 World Cup, Spain exploded at the start and within four minutes had taken the lead.

Jose Barkero powered a free kick from just inside the area awarded after Japanese keeper Yuta Minami took too many steps with the ball low past an eight-man wall that left Minami stunned.

Japan coach Phillippe Troussier said the goal opened the door for the rout.

``At this level it's not fair to award free kicks for such things,'' Troussier said, but agreed that Spain clearly demonstrated it had a great future.

Six minutes later, Minami had to finger a drive by Spanish mid-field Czar Xavi Hernandez from the edge of the box just over the bar. But in the 14th minute Xavi sent a superb lob from mid-field to centerforward Pablo, who drew Minami off his line and then rolled the ball low into the far right corner.

His second in the 32nd and Gabri Garcia De La Torre's tally inthe 51st completed the domination.

Japan, playing its first Fifa final and missing Japanese national team regular and playmaker Shinji Ono because of accumulated cautions, spent most of the first half chasing the Spaniards, who were cheered on wildly by an estimated 20,000 in the half-filled National Stadium.

Spanish coach Inaki Saez Ruiz took the opportunity to reiterate his claim that the major Spanish clubs are ruining soccer in the country.

He says they ignore native talent, and that Saturday's victory``Vindicates my claim that first-division clubs should give these players the opportunity they deserve because have shown they are the best in the world.''

Most of the Spanish youth side play in secondary teams barring Xavi Hernandez, who sometimes plays FC Barcelona, a team replete with foreign stars.

Saturday's game was attended by Fifa president Sepp Blatter, technical advisor Michel Platini as well as legends Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Charlton.

The Spanish coach touched a tender chord whenhe dedicated the trophy to his mother, who died the day after Spain's tournament-opening 2-0 victory against Brazil. He was unable to attend the funeral.

Spain's Pablo was awarded the championship's golden shoe award for his five goals. Mali's Mahamadou Dissa also scored five but had fewer assists.

Earlier, Mali beat Uruguay on a goal by Seydou Keita, who was voted top player in the three-week Championship.