The first match was a draw against a weak Cape Verde side. Spain was strongly criticized. They responded in the second match. Saudi Arabia was bewildered by the Spanish Armada. Spain won the first World Cup by defeating Saudi Arabia 4-0. One from Lamine Yamal, two from Michael Verzabal and one from Suicide.
Coach Luis de la Fuente made several changes after learning from the mistakes of the previous match. But the match showed just how much the 2010 World Cup winners depend on 19-year-old Lamine Yamal.
Yamal’s injury problems are still not fully resolved. The second half of the previous match did not make any difference and they were knocked out. This time he was forced to play Yamal from the beginning. The Barcelona star was not in the right position to play the whole match. He is having trouble pulling off a sprint. Yet he came, he saw, he saw victory.
It took him just 10 minutes to score his first World Cup goal at the Atlanta Stadium. Alex Baena passes the ball to Michael Varzabal from midfield. Left footed perfect pass from the head of the box to the left. The second time they got into an unsafe position between the goalkeeper and the defence, Yamal leapt and scored.
Ferran Torres started in place of Yamal in the previous match. The Barcelona striker was misplaced. Cape Verde increase the number of players and focus on blocking defense as there is no pressure from the wings. Yamal pulled the Saudi defenders to the wing. From there, he sometimes placed a cross, sometimes bypassed one, two, three defenders and entered the box. The second was wide open as two defenders were busy stopping him. The next three goals came from that spot.
Apart from Yamal, Fuente made three changes to the starting XI. Dynamic earnestness was brought to the other wing. Marcos Llorente replaces Pedro Pero at side-back. Forget old tricks and play dynamic passing football. Fabian Ruiz replaces Danny Olmo in midfield. He can play multiple positions as a false line, number 10. So they are both moving the ball from the Saudi box crisis to the wing.
The second goal came in the 21st minute. Michael Varzabal scored from a corner in the middle. He scored again three minutes later. Varzabal was not available in the first half of the previous match. This time he was able to take his place as there was less pressure from both sides. Similarly, Olmo pushed the ball into the empty net from the extended ball for the second time. In the 37th minute, he hit a great Trivela shot. But the ball went over the bar. A shot by Yamal was also saved by Saudi Arabian goalkeeper Mohammad Al Wais.
3-0 in the first half. The match has arrived. The Spanish coach took no chances and took Yamal aside at the start of the second half. Varzabal left the field after missing a hat trick. It was not difficult to increase Spain’s goal difference. In the 49th minute, Saudi defender Altambakti blocked Mark Kukera’s header into his own net.
The goal difference did not increase after that. could increase Nico Williams and Jeremiah Pinora attacked one after the other to no avail. Ferran Torres’ goal was disallowed for offside. Spain won 4-0 to top the group with 4 points from 2 matches. There was some concern as there were no more goals in the second half. And at the same time, it was clear as day how dependent this team was on Yamal.