After the embarrassment of their goalless draw against Cape Verde, confidence returned to the camp in Atlanta on Sunday
Añádenos en Google Oyarzabal celebrates one of his two goals on Sunday. (AFP) 22/06/2026 a las 01:57h.After an underwhelming performance against Cape Verde earlier in the week, Spain brushed aside Saudi Arabia 4-0 in Atlanta on Sunday to put their shaky World Cup opening behind them and reassert their credentials as one of the tournament favourites.
Compared to their showing six days earlier, Luis de la Fuente's side responded with a far more dynamic display at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In fact, the result was effectively settled before the midway point of the first half as Spain raced into a three-goal lead.
The 2010 winners began aggressively from the opening whistle, pressing high and moving the ball with greater speed.
Their early pressure paid off in the 10th minute when Lamine Yamal opened the scoring, finishing Mikel Oyarzabal's left-wing cross from close range at the back post.
Redemption
Having endured a frustrating opening game against Cape Verde, Oyarzabal, later named player of the match, delivered one of the standout performances of the tournament so far, eventually contributing two goals and in addition to his assist.
The Real Sociedad forward doubled Spain's advantage in the 21st minute with a close-range finish following a penalty-area melee, before adding his second goal just two minutes later, finishing off a move involving Pedro Porro, Marc Cucurella and Dani Olmo to make it 3-0 from an even closer distance.
Saudi Arabia offered little resistance and fell further behind shortly after the restart when defender Hassan Al Tambakti inadvertently turned Cucurella's saved effort into his own net in the 49th minute, extending Spain's lead to 4-0.
The Saudis rarely threatened Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón as De la Fuente's men secured the convincing result they had been seeking.
"The team was fired up and wanted such a resounding result," said the coach following the game.
The win restores optimism within the squad ahead of their last group-stage fixture against Uruguay on Saturday (kick-off 2am).