ATLANTA, GA — —Spain defended their top-three world ranking and flexed their muscle in their second match of group play for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday, June 21. Spain defeated Saudi Arabia 4-0 at Atlanta Stadium to move to 1-0-1 and earn four points.
The Spain national team was left with a sour taste of disappointment after not being able to score against Cape Verde in their first match of the World Cup on last week. Luckily, they got a chance to return back to the scene of the crime in the Atlanta Stadium and clean up their mess. They were able to quiet the doubters that questioned whether Spain was over hyped entering the tournament after a head scratching performance in the opener.
Spain’s Lamine Yamal got his first start ever in the World Cup and his first start since suffering a left hamstring injury in April while playing for Barcelona. The 18-year-old phenom quickly made his impact and scored the first goal of the match ten minutes into the game. It was his first goal scored ever in the World Cup and he was one of the youngest players to score a goal in the World Cup at 18 years old and 343 days, which was ninth youngest all-time.
Spain would take the early 1-0 lead and continue to add to it in the first half. Mikel Oyarzabal would score back-to-back goals. His first would come at 21-minute mark of the first half and his second would come just three minutes later at the 24-minute mark of the first half. He had already put in a solid day’s work before halftime after scoring two goals and getting an assist on Yamal’s goal.
Saudi Arabia would find themselves down 3-0 before the mandatory hydration break and things did not get better for them against their rivals in the Group H match-up. Goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais gave it his all and would finish the match with five total saves but it wasn’t enough against the dominant Spain attack.
Spain’s three goals in the first half also broke a 294 minutes scoring drought that dated back to 2022 World Cup tournament against Costa Rica in the 92nd minute. They would take their 3-0 lead into the half and not take their foot off the gas in the second half.
The second half started off much like the first half for Saudi Arabia and it wasn’t good. The Saudis hit themselves with a knockout punch at the 49th minute with a goal from Hassan Al-Tambakti on an unfortunate mistake to give Spain a 4-0 lead.
Spain also had a chance late to add insult to injury with their fifth goal of the match, but it was called off after referees reviewed it and determined Spain was offside before the goal was scored. Regardless, it was a dominant performance start to finish from Spain and a great bounce back effort. They controlled 67 percent of the possessions in this game, took 22 shots, took 13 shots from inside the box and only allowed the two touches inside their own box for the entire match.
Spain’s head coach Luis de la Fuente said after their 0-0 draw that his team was capable of playing much better than that and he was right. Now, they have silenced the doubters and turned their attention to the last group play match in Group H. They will take on Uruguay on Friday, June 26 in Guadalajara, Mexico. The two teams sit one and two in the group standings with Spain taking over the top spot after this latest victory.
Saudi Arabia is last in the group standings and will take on Cape Verde who still has a chance to make it to the round of 32. The two teams will also play on Friday, June 26 in Houston, Texas. The Saudis can play spoiler, but they are officially eliminated after the 4-0 loss after a 0-1-1 record and being down a negative four points in the standings.