Oyarzabal Does The Early Damage
Spain needed just one half to end Austria’s World Cup dream, and by the final whistle at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles the scoreline read a comfortable 3-0. Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice either side of a Pedro Porro strike, the Real Sociedad forward opening the scoring inside the first twenty-five minutes before adding a second with barely a minute left on the clock to put a flattering gloss on a dominant Spanish display. Austria, appearing in the Round of 32 for the first time since 1998, rarely threatened a Spain defence that has now gone the entire tournament without conceding.
Yamal’s Longest Shift Yet
The story of the afternoon, however, belonged to Lamine Yamal. The Barcelona teenager played 85 minutes, his longest involvement of the tournament so far, as he continued working his way back to full match sharpness after an injury lay-off earlier in the year. Named the match’s most valuable player, Yamal was involved in Spain’s best moments in behind the Austrian defence and looked increasingly like the player who tormented opponents at Euro 2024. Speaking afterwards, Yamal was blunt about what his return to fitness means for the rest of the tournament: “The World Cup starts now,” he told reporters, a warning as much as a statement of intent.
An Unbeaten Run For The Ages
Luis de la Fuente’s side have now gone 34 consecutive competitive internationals without defeat in normal time, a streak that stretches back well over two years and includes a European Championship win along the way. Spain have conceded nothing in four matches in this World Cup, a defensive record built on a high press and a back line marshalled expertly through the group stage and into the knockouts. Cape Verde’s shock goalless draw against them in the group stage remains the only blemish on an otherwise perfect attacking and defensive scoreboard, and even that match Spain dominated territorially without finding a breakthrough.
Portugal Or Croatia Await
The win sets up a mouth-watering Round of 16 tie against the winner of Portugal’s tie with Croatia, pitting Spain’s suffocating defensive record against a Portugal side built around Cristiano Ronaldo’s late-career pursuit of a first World Cup. De la Fuente will have decisions to make over how much football to give Yamal as his fitness continues to build, but with Oyarzabal in the kind of scoring form that has yielded five goals through the tournament and a defence yet to be breached, Spain head into the business end of the competition as one of the two or three genuine favourites left standing. For Austria, elimination ends a promising campaign that included wins in the group stage many did not expect, but Tuesday’s gulf in class was clear from the opening whistle to the last.
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