Spain run riot as Yamal and Oyarzabal gun down Saudi Arabia
Lamine Yamal opened the scoring and Mikel Oyarzabal struck twice inside the first 25 minutes as Spain dismantled Saudi Arabia 4-0 on Sunday to move to the top of Group H at the World Cup, with Aimar Al-Tambakti's second-half own goal completing a dominant victory in Atlanta.
The result, played at a sold-out Mercedes-Benz Stadium, sends Spain into their final group game against Uruguay on four points, with the Saudis — held by Uruguay in their opener — facing an early elimination fight.
Spain needed no warming-up period. Yamal, 18, announced himself in his first World Cup start by tapping home across a six-yard box at the back post in the tenth minute, converting a precision ball from Oyarzabal that sliced through the Saudi defence along the ground.
The goal made Yamal the eighth-youngest scorer in World Cup history at 18 years and 343 days.
Oyarzabal, who provided the assist for the opener, turned scorer himself four minutes later when a Yamal corner found Dani Olmo at the back post, who worked it back into the box for the Real Sociedad striker to finish with the outside of his boot.
The third arrived barely two minutes after that — Cucurella's cross from the left, headed on by Laporte off the bounce, dropping to Oyarzabal who was unmarked and composed enough to convert again.
It was the first time Spain had scored three goals inside the opening 25 minutes of a World Cup match since Germany's historic 7-1 rout of Brazil in 2014, and ended a run of 294 minutes without a goal at the tournament — their longest in World Cup history.
Saudi Arabia's goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais, who had made nine saves against Uruguay, was powerless to prevent any of the three. The Saudi side managed only brief moments of cohesion — Salem Al-Dawsari, their most dangerous outlet, found little daylight against Spain's compact defensive block.
Spain's manager Luis de la Fuente rotated heavily at the interval, withdrawing both Yamal and Oyarzabal, and introduced Yeremy Pino and Ferran Torres. Within three minutes of the restart, Spain had their fourth. A Cucurella effort was parried by Al-Owais, but the rebound struck the unfortunate Al-Tambakti on the back and nestled into the net.
The Saudis showed admirable resilience in the closing stages, keeping possession and refusing to capitulate entirely. A Ferran Torres tap-in in stoppage time was chalked off after a lengthy VAR review confirmed he was offside.
Spain, tournament favourites alongside France and Argentina, will expect to finish top of the group. Should they do so, they avoid a potential last-16 clash with Argentina — added motivation, if any was needed, to finish the job against Uruguay.