Spain answered questions raised by its goalless World Cup opener by defeating Saudi Arabia in Group H, delivering the statement result coach Luis de la Fuente had said his side needed after criticism following the draw with Cape Verde. The win kept Spain on a 32-match unbeaten streak and restored momentum after an opening performance that had fallen short of expectations against tournament debutants.
Ahead of the Saudi Arabia match, De la Fuente said Spain had heard the outside criticism but was using it as fuel rather than allowing it to disrupt preparations. He said the squad remained motivated, not discouraged, and expected a very different display from the one against Cape Verde. The coach also said Spain had reviewed the opener to identify mistakes, pointing in particular to a lack of sharpness, speed and ball distribution against an opponent that defended deep.
The response on the field was emphatic. Lamine Yamal, whose fitness had been a focus before the match, scored to become the eighth-youngest player to net at a World Cup at 18 years, 343 days old. Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice and added an assist in the first half, becoming only the second player on record since 1966 to score or assist three goals in the opening 25 minutes of a World Cup game. Spain also maintained another notable trend, avoiding defeat in every one of the 22 matches Yamal has started.
The contrast between Spain's first two matches sharpened the competing narratives around the team. Critics had seized on the stalemate with Cape Verde as evidence that Spain lacked cutting edge, while De la Fuente argued the issue was execution rather than any deeper problem, saying opponents often sit in a low block because of Spain's style and that his side simply needed to be more clinical. The performance against Saudi Arabia strengthened that argument, even as Spain's broader World Cup pattern remains unusual: the team has continued its streak of not winning at least one of its first two tournament matches, something that had not happened since 2014.