Lamine Yamal scored his first World Cup goal and Spain beat Arabia Saudita 4-0 on Sunday. England FC appears in the matchup context, but the result belonged to Spain from the first minute and left the young winger at the center of a fast start.
Yamal reached the byline and set up Mikel Oyarzabal before the first minute was complete, then finished himself in the 10th minute. By the 23rd minute, Spain led 3-0 at the first hydration break, and Arabia Saudita never recovered.
Oyarzabal's First-23-Minute Run
Oyarzabal produced two goals and one assist in those opening 23 minutes, the kind of output that shut the match down before Arabia Saudita could settle. He became the first player in World Cup history to reach that combination inside the first 23 minutes, and he has now scored 14 goals in his last 13 international matches while adding seven assists in that span.
That burst gave Spain something it did not have in its 0-0 draw with Cabo Verde: an early lead that forced the match onto one side's terms. The pace of the first half mattered because Spain did not need long build-up phases to break through; the goals came before Arabia Saudita could compress the game.
Pedri and Dani Olmo
Pedri and Dani Olmo started together in the same lineup for the first time under Luis de la Fuente, and the pairing had shared only 50 minutes on the field under him before this match. Dani Olmo replaced Fabián Ruiz in the starting lineup, giving Spain a different midfield look behind the forwards.
Rodri anchored that structure while Spain kept the ball moving into the attacking third quickly. The setup did not need to last long for Yamal and Oyarzabal to do their damage, but it showed that de la Fuente had options beyond the players used in the previous 0-0 draw.
Half-time Changes
Yamal was taken off at halftime along with Oyarzabal, despite his first World Cup goal and the assist that opened the match. Spain was already ahead 3-0 at that point, so the second half became less about chasing a result and more about managing minutes after the game had already been decided.
The immediate takeaway for Spain is simple: the attack can score early, and the combination of Yamal, Oyarzabal, Pedri, Dani Olmo and Rodri can overwhelm a deep defense in a short window. Yamal could play the full match against Uruguay in Guadalajara on Friday, and this one left Spain with a sharper answer after Cabo Verde.
