Spain look possible winners again as Lamine Yamal’s star quality kickstarts their World Cup | OneFootball

It took Lamine Yamal 10 minutes to do from the start against Saudi Arabia what he could not do in 19 from the bench in Spain’s opening game.

A Spain team tipped by many as the team to beat this summer finally looked something like it, sweeping Saudi Arabia aside 4-0 on the back of a first half as good as anything we’ve seen so far in this tournament and a second half spent conserving energy for the greater challenges ahead.

This was far more the Spain we expected, and the limited nature of Saudi Arabia’s ability to resist is less of a factor given the mess Spain made of things against even weaker opposition last time out.

After that goalless draw, Spain needed to win and win well here. They will be delighted not to have had to endure any nerves at all, with the result a formality before the first Hydration Break.

By then, it was already 3-0. Mikel Oyarzabal created the first for Yamal to slide in at the far post before scoring twice in quick succession himself. He almost completed a hat-trick with an audacious lob from a scuffed clearance.

So complete was Spain’s dominance that neither of their main men from the first half reappeared for the second.

The second half was a non-event for the entire period between the now obligatory own goal that every game has to have for some reason and an interminable VAR check to decide whether Ferran Torres was offside before tapping home an apparent fifth goal for Spain. In the end, they decided he was. Nobody other than Ferran Torres seemed to mind too much, with the delay in reaching the decision a greater irritant than the decision itself.

The margin of victory for Spain means they will likely have the draw onside when they meet Uruguay in what is likely to be a shootout for top spot in the final game of the group. Assuming Uruguay do what Spain could not against Cape Verde, but not in a particularly outrageous fashion.

A reminder: that matters, because the penalty for finishing second in this group is a last-32 game against the winners of Group J which almost certainly means Argentina.

Spain remain at real risk of suffering that fate, but their first half here made it both far less likely and far less worrying if it does.

Of course, the fact this game was against Saudi Arabia offers a reminder that World Cup campaigns need not be doomed by early setbacks. Argentina somehow contrived to lose to Saudi Arabia in their opening game four years ago. Eventual champions Argentina won their next two games to top the group; Saudi Arabia lost to Poland and Mexico to finish bottom.

Spain’s own World Cup win in 2010 began with a 1-0 defeat against a Switzerland side who, like Saudi Arabia 12 years later, would go out in the group stage despite bloodying the nose of the eventual winners in the opening game. Spain, like Argentina, still won the group.

A 0-0 draw with Cape Verde suddenly looks like a great start compared to those results. Especially now