Spain extended their unbeaten streak in competitive fixtures to 32 matches during their World Cup opener last week.
And yet, it was hard not to see La Roja’s scoreless draw against debutant Cape Verde — the third-least-populated country to ever qualify for the World Cup — as a disastrous start for Spain, who entered ranked second in the FIFA/Coca-Cola world rankings.
The Spaniards will look to reestablish themselves as threats when they continue Group H play against Saudi Arabia on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.
Spain (0-0-1, 1 point) controlled their opening match, holding 65% of the possession, a 27-6 edge in shots and 7-1 in shots on net.
Defender Marc Cucurella chose to focus on the upside of starting with a performance like this.
“I think it’s good that it happened to us in the first match,” Cucurella said. “Because maybe it happens to you in another round and you go home.”
The addition of teenage star Lamine Yamal off the bench in the 71st minute, returning from a hamstring injury, transformed the attack. But even he couldn’t break through for Spain, who failed to win their World Cup opener for the fourth time in the last five trips.
It sounds like Yamal will once again be limited on Sunday as the team is playing the long game for what they hope will be a stretch of eight games this summer.
“I feel good physically, I’m ready for whatever the boss wants,” Yamal said Friday in a Spanish television interview. “It’s very early, it’s unnecessary (to play 90 minutes). I have a process of adaptation. It isn’t the moment to play a full game but I’ll play the minutes the boss wants.”
Saudi Arabia (0-0-1, 1 point) enter this match ahead of Spain via the goals scored tiebreaker. The Green Falcons did not have the same problem scoring in their opener against Uruguay, leading for nearly 40 minutes after Abdulelah Al-Amri’s late-first-half goal.
But a late equalizer from Uruguay kept Saudi Arabia from taking early command of the group with their second straight upset to begin a World Cup after the 2022 Argentina stunner.
In the end, Saudi Arabia, who trailed Uruguay 1.72-0.66 in expected goals, were likely satisfied with the draw, even though they blew a lead.
Entering an even bigger test than the opener, Saudi Arabia manager Georgios Donis is preaching his team pays the proper amount of respect to Spain as they seek another major upset.
“We have to play against one of the best teams in the world,” Donis said Saturday, “and it’s very important when you get to this sort of tournament and you have this sort of joy of playing against these teams to be able to enjoy those games, to respect the opponent but also not to respect them more than you should.”
Both draws leave all four Group H teams on one point entering a critical second matchday.
A win in either of the next two matches would likely be enough for Saudi Arabia to advance to the knockout stage for the first time since their World Cup debut in 1994. However, that may not be an easy task for a team that has won only two total matches in their six World Cup appearances since 1994.
–Group G, Belgium vs. Iran in Inglewood, Calif.: Belgium, looking to return to the knockout stage after missing it in 2022, opened with a somewhat surprising 1-1 draw with Egypt. Iran, who rallied twice for an opening 2-2 draw against New Zealand, are seeking their first-ever knockout stage appearance.
–Group H, Uruguay vs. Cape Verde in Miami Gardens, Fla.: Likely the top storyline from the opening set of matches, Cape Verde have another tough test as they seek their first World Cup victory. Uruguay look to do what Spain couldn’t and take care of business against an overmatched team on paper.
–Group G, New Zealand vs. Egypt in Vancouver: Neither New Zealand nor Egypt have ever won a match at the World Cup, let alone advance out of a single group stage. A win by either would move them to the brink of clinching a spot.
–Field Level Media
