De la Fuente's Gamble Pays Off Immediately as Spain Buries Saudi Arabia 4-0 in Atlanta
- Jason Longshore
- 8 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Two days before kickoff, Luis de la Fuente was asked to compare Lamine Yamal to Messi or Maradona, and he waved the question away as unfair to an eighteen year old still finding his ceiling. He reached for painters instead, comparing Yamal to Salvador Dalí and Michelangelo. What seems exceptional to us, isn't for them, he said.
It was the question everyone wanted answered. Yamal hadn't started a match since April 22 for Barcelona, and Spain had spent the days before the start of the tournament anxious to see him back, and at his best. He managed nineteen minutes off the bench in the tournament opener, the disappointing scoreless draw against Cabo Verde.
For the first nine minutes at Atlanta Stadium, the caution around him looked justified. Yamal drew defenders and forced little. Spain circulated the ball around the top of the box without much conviction, the same hesitation that had produced a flat 0-0 draw with Cabo Verde four days earlier. Then a move down the left found Mikel Oyarzabal in space, and his low cross found Yamal sliding in at the back post to finish. Tenth minute. Spain's patience lasted exactly as long as it needed to.
By the final whistle, Spain had buried Saudi Arabia 4-0 in front of 68,239 fans, the kind of result that turns a must win match into a statement.
A Lineup the Press Didn't See Coming
Oyarzabal got the nod up front again alongside Yamal and Álex Baena, with Ferran Torres and Nico Williams both held back as second half options.
The decision arrived in the shadow of real pressure. The Cabo Verde draw had Group H suddenly uncomfortable for the reigning European champions, and de la Fuente had openly admitted afterward that Spain lacked the speed in its ball circulation to create the spaces it needed. Saudi Arabia coach Georgios Donis, previewing the match from the other bench, put the stakes more bluntly than anyone in the Spanish camp: Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench. Rodri anchored the midfield with 127 touches, the most of any player on the pitch, and Pau Cubarsí completed 99 percent of his passes alongside Aymeric Laporte at center back. The circulation problem de la Fuente had named four days earlier did not resurface.
Oyarzabal Has Never Looked More Necessary
Spain's most effective attacking sides have rarely needed a true target man up front. Fernando Torres didn't play that way, and David Villa, at his peak during the 2010 World Cup, made his name reading space rather than imposing size. Oyarzabal belongs in that lineage more than any forward Spain has fielded since. Originally a winger and now Real Sociedad's captain, he has spent years adjusting his game around recurring injury setbacks, and playing closer to the center suits him largely because it keeps him involved in more of the match rather than isolating him inside the box.
De la Fuente has trusted him in that role since the under 23 level, where Oyarzabal was central to the side that won silver at the Tokyo Olympics. Luis Enrique deployed him the same way in the 2021 Nations League final, where he scored. A serious injury cost him the 2022 World Cup, and when he returned, he became Spain's most reliable source of late impact off the bench, regularly replacing captain Álvaro Morata at Euro 2024, including in the final, where his goal won the tournament. As Morata's role with the squad has receded since that summer, Oyarzabal has turned into one of Spain's most productive scorers, with 13 goals in his last 16 appearances heading into Atlanta, six of them in World Cup qualifying.
That arc is what made Saturday matter as much as it did. Cabo Verde had stifled him the way it stifled the rest of Spain, and some of the criticism that followed that draw landed on him specifically, even though he still created the team's best chances that day. In Spain's opener he didn't touch the ball in the first thirty minutes. In Atlanta he was at the heart of the opening goal too, sprung down the left by Baena's trivela pass before his low cross found Yamal at the back post.
His second goal arrived in the 21st minute, moments after Ali Lajami's well timed tackle had briefly slowed Spain's momentum and conceded the corner that undid it. Laporte headed the delivery down, Oyarzabal took a touch to settle, then curled it past Mohammed Al Owais with the outside of his left foot. Three minutes later he was finishing again, turning home a header across goal from Dani Olmo after Pedro Porro and Marc Cucurella worked the ball through the right side. He nearly completed a first half hat trick in the 34th minute, curling an effort off the crossbar from a tight angle, the kind of finish that could have been the goal of the tournament had it gone in.
He finished the match with five shots, three of them on target. Only one player on record since Opta began tracking World Cups in 1966 had scored or assisted three goals faster in a match's opening 25 minutes: Hungary's László Fazekas, against El Salvador in 1982.
Yamal, On Schedule
Spain had not lost a match Yamal started in 21 tries since his debut, a run that included 15 wins and 60 goals scored with Yamal directly involved in 16 of them. Atlanta extended that streak and gave him his first goal back from the injury that limited him to substitute minutes against Cabo Verde. He became the eighth youngest player ever to score at a World Cup in the process.
His night ended early by design. De la Fuente pulled both Yamal and Oyarzabal at halftime, sending on Yéremy Pino and Ferran Torres in their place, a clear call to protect two essential players rather than push their minutes in a game that was already decided.
Al-Owais Stands Alone
Saudi Arabia did not arrive in Atlanta as a team without credentials. Captain Salem Al-Dawsari is the player who beat Argentina at the 2022 World Cup and spent a loan year at Villarreal, and this same Saudi side had matched Uruguay for a half before fading in their opener. None of that showed up on the scoreline today, but it is worth remembering what kind of team Spain dismantled.
Mohammed Al-Owais kept it from getting worse than it did. He denied Baena after an Oyarzabal pass, got down low to deny Oyarzabal a second time, and produced a big save off Yamal in the 36th minute. He finished with five saves on the day.
Spain found a fourth goal early in the second half. Marc Cucurella's volley off a corner cannoned in off Al Owais's own leg, and was deflected into the goal by Hassan Al-Tambakti in the 49th minute. It was recorded as an own goal by Al-Tambakti.
Next for Both Teams
Both will be watching tonight's Uruguay vs Cabo Verde match to see what is needed in the third match. Spain will be facing Marcelo Bielsa's side in Guadalajara in a match that could decide the group winners, while the Blue Sharks will face Saudi Arabia in Houston at the same time as both try to reach the knockout rounds.