The Sports Guru
Five days ago Spain were the story of the World Cup for all the wrong reasons. This piece looks at the 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia that put that right, at the teenager who turned a tense afternoon in Atlanta into a procession, and at why Luis de la Fuente will have learned as much from how his side managed the second half as from the goals that won it.
A team can spend a week being doubted and then spend twenty-five minutes making the doubt look foolish. That is roughly what Spain did to Saudi Arabia at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where a 4-0 win in front of 68,239 supporters wiped away the memory of a dismal goalless draw with Cape Verde and sent La Roja top of Group H. Lamine Yamal scored his first World Cup goal, Mikel Oyarzabal helped himself to a quickfire double, and the game was effectively over before the first hydration break. Spain had needed a performance as much as a result. They produced both.
The context made the manner of it matter. Spain's opener against Cape Verde on Monday had been one of the bigger shocks of the tournament so far, a flat and frustrating afternoon that left them needing to answer questions they are not used to being asked, a night we covered in our report on the goalless draw that put the pressure on. The response here was emphatic from the first whistle. By the time Yamal turned the ball into the net, Spain had already completed 39 passes, more than any side had managed before scoring at the tournament to that point, and the suffocating tempo that had been missing three days earlier was suddenly everywhere.
The Teenager Sets the Tone
Yamal was restored to the starting line-up after an electric cameo the week before, and it took him barely ten minutes to justify the decision. Oyarzabal slid a low, fizzing cross across the face of goal, and Yamal poked it home from a tight angle for a finish that owed more to a poacher's instinct than to the dribbling artistry that has made his name. It was not one of his signature works. It did not need to be. He told DAZN afterwards that he had watched the 2022 World Cup from a classroom, and the line landed with the weight of how quickly his world has changed. "Being able to score here with my mum and my family in the stands is a dream come true," he said.
What followed was a reminder that a superstar lifts the people around him. Spain became the first nation since Germany in 2014 to score three goals inside the opening 25 minutes of a World Cup match, and the second and third both fell to Oyarzabal. His first, on 21 minutes, was a scrappy poke from close range at the back post, the kind of goal a striker takes without apology. His second, two minutes later, was cleaner, a more deliberate turn and finish past the goalkeeper. He should have had the match ball before the half-hour, but after pouncing on a poor back pass from Mohammed Al Owais his first-time effort cannoned off the top of the crossbar.
"That was the plan, to play for a half and get some rest, but above all to help the team," Yamal said. "The first game wasn't really us, it was different, but now we've arrived and we're going for more. Drawing a match that you know you should win stings. It made us think a lot, and it helped us approach this match exactly how we wanted to."
A Manager Thinking Two Games Ahead
De la Fuente, who celebrated his 65th birthday on Sunday, made the call that defined the second half before it had even begun. With the game won, he withdrew both Yamal and Oyarzabal at the interval, a piece of housekeeping that looked less like caution than foresight from a coach with a much harder Group H fixture against Uruguay still to come. Spain were less ferocious after the break, but they stayed in control, and the fourth goal arrived with the sort of luck that tends to find dominant teams. Marc Cucurella met a flicked-on corner, Al Owais saved well, and the rebound struck Hassan Al-Tambakti and rolled in. An own goal, the eighth of a tournament that has been unusually cruel to defenders, already more than any World Cup bar 2018 with the group stage barely halfway through.
There was almost a fifth in stoppage time when Ferran Torres turned home Fabian Ruiz's cross, only for a lengthy VAR review to rule it out for offside. By then the scoreline was a formality and the broader point had been made. Spain had not just won, they had reasserted an identity that had gone missing for ninety minutes against Cape Verde.
"We played an exceptional first half and a good second half too," De la Fuente told DAZN. "We'd reviewed the Cape Verde game with the players and we all agreed that we needed more verticality and more intensity. From the very first minute we were suffocating the opponent and pinning them back into their own box. We are very happy with that approach, but we have to keep growing and improving." On Yamal, the message was equally pointed. "Lamine is in perfect condition to take on full matches now, and it's also good to take him off like that, leaving him hungry for more."
Group H Reshuffled
The result lifts Spain to the top of Group H ahead of Uruguay's meeting with Cape Verde at 11pm on Sunday, and it drops Saudi Arabia to the bottom after they had opened with a creditable draw, a result we looked at in the Saudi Arabia point against Uruguay. For Saudi Arabia this was a chastening evening against opponents operating at a different speed, and Al Owais will not enjoy the replays, even if the rebound for the fourth was beyond his control. For Spain the qualification maths is suddenly comfortable and the mood transformed.
De la Fuente was careful not to let the celebration run away from him. "Uruguay is going to be a difficult and very tough match," he said, and the warning was as much for his own players as for anyone watching. The value of a 4-0 win is not only the three points. It is the licence it buys to rest two of your most important players for the game that will actually decide the group.
Verdict: Doubt Answered, Test Still to Come
A week is a long time in a World Cup. Spain arrived at this fixture carrying the weight of an opening result that had invited every old question about flair without end product, and they left it having scored four, rested their two brightest talents and moved top of the group without breaking sweat after the interval. The performance does not erase the Cape Verde draw, but it reframes it as a stumble rather than a pattern.
The real examination is still ahead. Uruguay will not sit back and admire the passing the way Saudi Arabia were forced to, and a team that can produce twenty-five minutes like this is not yet a team that has proved it can do it against opposition that hits back. For one afternoon in Atlanta, though, the doubt was answered in the most direct language football has. Spain scored early, scored often, and made a difficult week look like an overreaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Spain beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 in their Group H fixture at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Lamine Yamal opened the scoring with his first World Cup goal, Mikel Oyarzabal added two more inside the opening 25 minutes, and Hassan Al-Tambakti turned a rebound into his own net for the fourth. Ferran Torres had a late fifth ruled out by VAR for offside.
Spain had drawn 0-0 with Cape Verde in their Group H opener, one of the bigger shocks of the tournament, which left them under pressure to deliver both a result and a performance. The 4-0 win answered those doubts emphatically and sent them top of the group, while also allowing Luis de la Fuente to rest key players ahead of a tougher meeting with Uruguay.
Yes. Yamal scored his first World Cup goal on his first World Cup start, poking home Mikel Oyarzabal's low cross from a tight angle after ten minutes. He told DAZN afterwards that he had watched the 2022 tournament from a classroom and described scoring in front of his family as a dream realised.
The win lifted Spain to the top of Group H ahead of Uruguay's game against Cape Verde later on Sunday, and it dropped Saudi Arabia to the bottom of the group. Spain's qualification position is now comfortable, with their meeting against Uruguay shaping up as the fixture likely to decide who tops the group.
With the game effectively won at 3-0, De la Fuente withdrew both at the interval to manage their workloads ahead of a harder fixture against Uruguay. He said afterwards that Yamal was now in condition to play full matches, but that taking him off while the game was settled left him "hungry for more" for the games that matter most.
Sources: Match report, scoring sequence and post-match quotes from Lamine Yamal and Luis de la Fuente to DAZN, plus statistical context, as reported by Charlotte Marsh, Peter Smith and Ron Walker in Sky Sports' coverage of Spain 4-0 Saudi Arabia at the World Cup.
