Spain will try to win their first knockout match at a World Cup since capturing the 2010 title when they face an Austrian side that should be unmoved by high-quality European opposition.
Spain entered the tournament as one of the oddsmakers’ favorites after winning the 2024 European Championships. They carry a record 34-match unbeaten run in competitive fixtures into the knockout phase.
Even so, there is a sense that two of Spain’s three group stage performances failed to meet expectations. In their opener, they settled for a 0-0 draw against tournament debutants Cape Verde. In the finale, a mistake from Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was the difference in Spain’s 1-0 win to top the group.
In that context, Spain manager Luis de la Fuente said it’s understandable his nation’s fans may be less than impressed.
“It would be strange if they didn’t make any demands from us,” de la Fuente said via an interpreter. “But we are very self-demanding. We like to compete. We are sportsmen and we love to improve day by day.”
The best news from that group finale for Spain may have been Lamine Yamal playing 76 minutes. That was the longest outing from the prodigious 18-year-old since he went the full 90 in the second leg of FC Barcelona’s UEFA Champions League semifinal defeat to Atletico Madrid in April.
Yamal suffered a hamstring tear in his next appearance on April 22, and has been eased back into national team action over the tournament — scoring the opener in Spain’s 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia in their middle group game.
Meanwhile, de la Fuente said while winger Nico Williams will miss the match following a tackle suffered against Uruguay, he’s hopeful the new issue is minor and that the wide man could return if Spain progress.
Austria will be seeking their first knockout-phase victory in a major tournament after losing in the round of 16 in the 2020 and 2024 European Championships. Austria progressed to a second group phase in the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
Austria have proven capable of handling Europe’s most powerful sides during those Euro appearances, in 2020 finishing second in a group that included the Netherlands and Ukraine, and in 2024 topping a foursome that included the Netherlands and France.
They haven’t faced the Spaniards since a 2009 friendly. Their last win over them came way back in 1990 in another friendly fixture.
“Of course, we know that the Spanish are very secure on the ball and have outstanding individual players,” said Austria captain Florian Grillitsch via a translation. “I think we have to be a nuisance, counter them with our intensity and our pressing. We need to keep their forwards, their one-on-one players, in check as best we can and then wait for our opportunities.”
Manager Ralf Rangnick’s squad required a dramatic 3-3 draw with Algeria to reach the next phase, with Sasa Kalajdzic’s header in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time cancelling Riyad Mahrez’s go-ahead strike minutes earlier.
That followed a 2-0 loss to Lionel Messi and Argentina after opening the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Jordan.
–Field Level Media
