Spain’s Lamine Yamal (19) celebrates with Mikel Oyarzabal after scoring a goal throughout the World Cup Group H soccer match between Spain and Saudi Arabia in Atlanta, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Lamine Yamal’s return sparked Spain’s World Cup into life because the European champions ran riot to beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 in Atlanta.
Making his first start in two months after a hamstring injury, Yamal ended La Roja’s long wait for a World Cup goal just 10 minutes in.
Mikel Oyarzabal then struck twice to place Luis de la Fuente’s men 3-0 up inside 24 minutes.
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De la Fuente’s careful management of Yamal’s minutes continued because the Barcelona superstar was replaced at half-time before Hassan al-Tambakti’s own goal rounded off the scoring.
“We needed to get better good feelings, correct a number of things from the last game, but we want to maintain improving if we wish to attain our goal of attending to the ultimate on July 19,” said De la Fuente.
Victory propels Spain to the highest of Group H, which also saw Cape Verde holding Uruguay to a 2-2 draw.
Billed as one in every of the pre-tournament favorites, Spain got off to a slow start in a 0-0 draw against debutants Cape Verde.
A pedestrian performance despite dominating possession only highlighted the importance of Yamal to their quest to be world champions for a second time.
De la Fuente also warned his players had been “stung” by the criticism they faced following their opening result they usually responded emphatically.
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Yamal’s return was one in every of 4 changes in total with Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also coming into the starting line-up.
After over 2,500 passes and 50 attempts at goal since their last World Cup goal, Spain finally found the web and fittingly Yamal made the breakthrough.
Pressure rises on Saudis
Oyarzabal found space in behind the Saudi defence and his low cross picked out the 18-year-old to fit in on the back post.
The Saudis held Uruguay 1-1 of their opening game but there was little evidence that the billions splashed to boost the extent of their domestic league has aided the national team.
Coach Georgios Donis looked particularly irked that two of Spain’s goals got here from corners.
Oyarzabal pounced on Aymeric Laporte’s flick-on to present the 2010 winners the respiratory space they craved.
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Just three minutes later, the Real Sociedad forward volleyed home from Olmo’s header for his 14th international goal in his last 13 caps.
Oyarzabal was inches away from a first-half hat-trick when his audacious effort with the surface of his foot from a narrow angle got here back off the crossbar.
But with the job done by half-time, De la Fuente could afford the luxurious of replacing Yamal and Oyarzabal on the break.
“Had we had a distinct result, he (Yamal) would’ve played for longer but given the result and that the match was under control, we considered his contribution was enough for us to have him in the following game,” added De la Fuente.
The changes didn’t disrupt the waves of Spanish attack towards the Saudi goal, however the fourth also got here via a corner.
Cucurella was afforded acres of space to shoot and although his effort was repelled by Mohammed al-Owais, the rebound deflected in off the unlucky Tambakti.
To round off an excellent afternoon for De la Fuente on his sixty fifth birthday, Nico Williams and Mikel Merino were afforded priceless minutes off the bench within the second period as they too stand up to match speed after lengthy absences attributable to injury.
In contrast, the pressure is now on Donis to deliver in Saudi Arabia’s final group game against Cape Verde in Houston.
Victory will likely take the Arabian Falcons into the knockout stages for the primary time for the reason that World Cup was last in the USA 32 years ago.
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Spain travel to Guadalajara next for the ultimate group game against two-time winners Uruguay on Friday.