Spain 4 Saudi Arabia 0
Back to business as usual for Spain. Following the Cape Verde game last week I’m sure there was some inquests from De La Fuente surrounding the performance but this was much more like it from Spain, immediately you could tell the difference in the team from kick-off and Spain didn’t wait around to open the scoring as Oyarzabal was found on the left and fired the ball across the box where Lamine Yamal was waiting to turn home and put Spain 1-0 up in the 10th minute. From there it was constant Spanish pressure and it wasn’t long before they doubled their lead as a Spain corner wasn’t cleared by Saudi Arabia letting Oyarzabal nip in and flick the ball past Al Owais to put Spain 2-0 up in the 21st minute, just three minutes later Spain added another as Porro’s cross found Cucurella at the back-post who headed the ball back to Olmo who found Oyarzabal who couldn’t miss to make it 3-0 nil and end the game if it wasn’t finished already. De La Fuente made two changes at half-time taking Yamal and Oyarzabal off for Ferran Torres and Yeremi Pino which did drop the Spanish tempo but they did add a fourth from a corner which found Cucurella who’s shot was saved by Al Owais but onto his own defender Al Tambakti who scored an unfortunate own-goal in the 49th minute. Job done for Spain who will now most likely top the group barring a miracle from Uruaguay.
This is the Spain we wanted to see. With Yamal back in the starting 11 we knew were going to see a different Spain but I like that De La Fuente also brought Olmo, Porro and Baena in who all had good games in my opinion, I said after the Cape Verde game that Mikel Oyarzabal isn’t reliable up front for Spain but I think I was a bit too harsh as his record for this side speaks for itself and we saw more of that today against quite a poor Saudi Arabia team. I still think it’s quite hard to gauge this Spain team as they’ve played two really poor teams in Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia although I do think Cape Verde are much better than this Saudi team but they were ruthless today which was important to give confidence to the attackers heading into the knockouts, defensively they look as strong as ever giving Saudi Arabia nothing for 90 minutes on the counter even after they made changes in the second half. Overall a much improved performance from Spain albeit against a terrible Saudi team.
Not even slightly interested in this Saudi Arabia team. I mean what is there to really say about this side, I thought they were abysmal in the game against Uruguay only looking dangerous through set-pieces but Spain didn’t even give them a chance to hurt them on the counter as they had no pace at all. There chances of getting out of the group is still in their hands with Cape Verde in the last game but that’s not a gimme at all based on Cape Verde’s first game against Spain so I could see an upset happening in that last group game, overall I don’t really have anything else to say on this Saudi team who need to pull something together going into that last group game or else they are out.
Lamine Yamal is Spain’s Messi in this World Cup. Obviously it’s far too early to compare the two but I’m purely looking at it through the lens where if Argentina where to lose Messi through injury their World Cup chances would be hugely slashed, we’ve already seen Spain without Yamal against Cape Verde which showed how poor they can be without their main man. Yamal wasn’t at his best today after just recovering from a hamstring injury but you can still see the obvious threat he brings on the pitch that Spain simply cannot replace with Ferran Torres on the right-wing, the hope will be now that Nico Williams will recover for the knockouts which would again boost Spain’s chances massively for this World Cup. Are Spain still the favourites for this World Cup? You wouldn’t look past them.
What does this result mean for the group? Spain sit top of the group and unless Uruguay beat Cape Verde tonight then beat Spain in the last group game the Spanish will top the group which you would expect, the rest of the places are up for grabs with a lot riding on that game later on tonight where Cape Verde will be aiming to shock the world again which is definitely possible up against a poor Uruguay team. Ultimately that Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia game will probably decide who goes through between the two but Uruguay could be dragged in if they don’t win tonight which would mean they need at least a point against Spain in the last group game to even have a chance of going through. Lots of permutations but it will much clearer after tonight, do Cape Verde have another shock in them?