Spain Rout Saudi Arabia 4-0 To Top Group H
The result lifts Spain to the top of Group H and erases the criticism that followed their flat 0-0 opener against Cape Verde.
Result: Spain 4-0 Saudi Arabia
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Competition: 2026 FIFA World Cup, Group H
Scorers: Yamal 10', Oyarzabal 21', Oyarzabal 24', Al Tambakti (OG) 49'
This was the response Spain's critics had been demanding since their flat 0-0 opener against Cape Verde, a result that had piled pressure on a side many still consider genuine title contenders. With Yamal and Nico Williams both fit again after missing that game, La Roja looked like a different team from the first whistle, sharper in transition, ruthless in the final third, and in total control of a Saudi side that simply couldn't cope with the pace of the front three.
Yamal needed only ten minutes to get his first World Cup goal, tapping in from close range after Oyarzabal, who had taken plenty of criticism for his own quiet display against Cape Verde, set him up with a clever assist.
That seemed to be exactly the spark Oyarzabal himself needed. He doubled the lead in the 21st minute and added a third just three minutes later, both finishes clinical enough to suggest a player determined to silence his doubters in the space of a single half. He even rattled the crossbar before the break while chasing a hat-trick, and could easily have had four.
By the interval the contest was effectively over, and De la Fuente took the rare luxury of withdrawing both Yamal and Oyarzabal at half-time, job done. Spain still found a fourth four minutes after the restart, though there was nothing pretty about it. Hassan Al Tambakti turned the ball into his own net under pressure from a string of attacks that had already forced several saves out of Mohammed Al Owais.
Late on, substitute Ferran Torres thought he would made it five, only for the goal to be chalked off after a lengthy VAR review for offside. On the night's numbers, it barely mattered: Spain finished with 22 shots to Saudi Arabia's three, and an expected-goals tally near 2.85 against the visitors' 0.04, about as one-sided as a World Cup group game gets.
De la Fuente didn't hold back afterwards, pushing back hard at the noise that had followed the Cape Verde result. "We could have won by three goals" this was the emphatic statement his side had been waiting to make, and he made clear he felt the criticism after one underwhelming result had been over the top.
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Saudi Arabia, by contrast, head into their final group game with work to do. Coach Hervé Renard's side had given themselves something to build on after a battling 1-1 draw with Uruguay in their opener, but they barely laid a glove on Spain here. Their route back into contention now runs through Cape Verde on the last matchday, with qualification still mathematically alive but no longer in their own hands.
Spain is the only side in the group to have won a match so far, and a result against Uruguay on the final matchday would put them through as group winners. Cape Verde and Uruguay, level on points after their goalless draw, will fancy their own chances of a famous first World Cup knockout appearance. For Saudi Arabia, beating Cape Verde is now close to essential.
