Spain had arrived in Atlanta needing a response. Ninety minutes later, it left with relief, having rediscovered the goals that had deserted it against Cape Verde to secure a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia and breathe life back into its stuttering World Cup campaign.
While the temperature outside hovered around 30 degrees Celsius and humidity pushed past 70%, inside the covered stadium, it was a comfortable 22 degrees, ideal conditions for Spain’s preference for a quick-passing game.
Luis de la Fuente’s side started with far greater purpose than in its opening match. Lamine Yamal, handed a place in the starting XI, hugged the right touchline and immediately gave Spain a direct outlet to stretch the Saudi defence.
Two corners arrived within the opening 10 minutes, and Spain, frustrated by its failure to score against Cape Verde, showed a willingness to shoot whenever any space opened up.
The breakthrough arrived in the 11th minute as Spain moved the ball from left to right with the ease of a tide rolling across a shoreline. Mikel Oyarzabal’s low cross flashed across the face of the goal, and Yamal, arriving unseen at the far post, guided home his first World Cup strike.
The second goal came moments before the hydration break as Saudi Arabia dithered in clearing a corner, allowing Oyarzabal to finish from close quarters. Spain’s attacks were now rolling in one after the other, with each wave more damaging than the last.
Barely a minute after the restart came the third, with Oyarzabal grabbing his second after Dani Olmo had squared Marc Cucurella’s header across goal, leaving the Real Sociedad forward with hardly any work left.
Saudi Arabia’s misfortunes continued when an unmarked Cucurella’s left-footed strike cannoned into goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais and then ricocheted off Hassan Al Tambakti to trickle over the line, draining the last remnants of Saudi resistance.
Substitute Ferran Torres twice had the chance to add further gloss to the scoreline, but the Barcelona winger’s finishing remained as wayward as it had been in the opening game. Even his stoppage-time effort was ruled out for offside.
But after it was left stranded in still waters by Cape Verde, Spain found a current in Atlanta to carry its World Cup ambitions forward.
As the noisy La Roja faithful spilled into the humid Georgia evening, the tide had once again turned in favour of one of the tournament’s early favourites.
