Eighteen years and a handful of days old, carrying a hamstring that had kept him out of Spain's flat goalless draw with Cape Verde on matchday one, Lamine Yamal needed precisely ten minutes of his World Cup debut proper to announce himself: a low finish from close range, teed up by Mikel Oyarzabal, sent Mercedes-Benz Stadium into the kind of noise Atlanta hadn't heard since the Olympics came through town. It was the first goal of what De la Fuente would later call "an important step" — and it was only the opening line. Oyarzabal, the supposed support act, then wrote the rest of the first half himself: a goal in the 21st minute, another in the 24th, a hat-trick chance off the crossbar shortly after that he didn't get to finish. By the time the half-hour mark passed, Spain were 3-0 up against a Saudi Arabia side that had spent the spring boasting about the counter-attacking blueprint that toppled Argentina in Qatar. There was no counter-attack. There was barely a foothold.
What happened next told you more about this Spain side than the scoreline did. At half-time, with the contest already decided, Luis de la Fuente withdrew both Yamal and Oyarzabal — his two best players, both directly responsible for three of his team's goals, both removed from a World Cup group match they were visibly enjoying. "We knew, more or less," De la Fuente said of the call. "It depended how the game developed, but we knew today was an important step. He's hungry. It's good to leave him that way, wanting more." Spain spent the second half managing a canter rather than chasing a scoreline, and let Saudi Arabia's defending do the rest of the damage to itself: Hassan Al-Tambakti turned a low cross into his own net in the 49th minute to make it 4-0, the kind of goal that sums up an afternoon where Spain finished with 63% possession and 22 shots to Saudi Arabia's 3.
Spain are through to the Round of 32 with a game still to play. Saudi Arabia, on one point from two matches and a goal difference of minus four, are not — not mathematically eliminated, but needing a small miracle against Uruguay on the final matchday. There's a footnote to all of this that the Couch feels obligated to flag: our own preview for this match listed Roberto Mancini as Saudi Arabia's head coach. Mancini left the post back in April. Georgios Donis has been in the dugout since — a detail the Couch's research desk is mildly embarrassed to have missed and is choosing to frame, going forward, as "material."
Three goals in 24 minutes, then both scorers removed at half-time — not because of fatigue or injury concern, but because the job was already finished and De la Fuente would rather Yamal leave the pitch wanting more than risk him for a contest that had nothing left to offer. Spain are managing a tournament, not just a match. That's a team that expects to still be here in July.
Yamal arrived as the story; Oyarzabal leaves with the brace, the assist, and a crossbar that briefly threatened to make it three. Spain's supposed second option has now scored as many World Cup goals in one half as most strikers manage in a tournament. Funny how that keeps happening to the player nobody asked about in the preview.
Saudi Arabia walked out for a World Cup match under a manager our preview never even named correctly — Georgios Donis has been in charge since April, Roberto Mancini is two managerial cycles removed from this squad, and the gap between "the story going in" and "the story that actually happened" is the entire reason this column exists. Group H has a habit of moving faster than the previews can keep up.
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +4 | 4 |
| 🇺🇾 Uruguay | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 🇨🇻 Cape Verde | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -4 | 1 |
Uruguay and Cape Verde still have a game in hand today — they kick off against each other tonight in Miami, with Saudi Arabia's results so far meaning a draw keeps both of them above the Saudis on goal difference regardless of what happens. This table updates again once that match finishes.