Spain beats Austria 3-0 to march into the next round
The first half was completely one-sided, even before Spain opened the scoring. By the break, they had already fired off well over a dozen attempts, with Austria barely getting a touch in the attacking third. The deadlock was finally broken in the 36th minute, with Spain converting one of their many chances to lead 1-0 at halftime while Austria had not managed a single corner kick or a shot on target.
Spain doubled their lead in the 66th minute, stretching Austria's back line with the same quick, short passing game that has made Luis de la Fuente's team so difficult to play against. Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams were a constant menace out wide, pulling defenders out of position and creating space for midfielders like Pedri, Dani Olmo, and Alex Baena to drive through the middle.
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Spain had 65% of the ball, fired 22 shots compared to Austria's 5, registered 10 shots on target while Austria had zero, and earned 9 corners to Austria's none. Austria's only meaningful stat was the number of fouls,15, as Marcel Sabitzer, Nicolas Seiwald, and company resorted to stopping Spain any way they could. A yellow card in the 83rd minute reflected the mounting frustration in the Austrian camp.
Austria did make four substitutions at halftime in a desperate attempt to change things, bringing on the experienced Marko Arnautovic and Patrick Wimmer to add physicality and pace. It briefly disrupted Spain's rhythm but never seriously threatened Unai Simon in goal. Spain kept their discipline completely, no yellow cards, no fouls worth worrying about, just clean, clinical football from start to finish.
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The third goal arrived in the 89th minute, a fitting end to a night of total Spanish control, with late substitutes Victor Munoz and Gavi adding energy to the team.
Spain has now beaten Saudi Arabia 4-0 and Austria 3-0 in their last two games, both clean sheets, and goes into the knockout rounds in the kind of form that will make the remaining sides in the draw very uncomfortable indeed.
Austria, which showed brief moments of quality through Paul Wanner and Romano Schmid earlier in the tournament, will head home having been thoroughly outplayed in their biggest test of the competition.
