By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-06-21 18:56:36 | Updated at 2026-06-22 17:33:09
22 hours ago
Lamine Yamal made his first FIFA World Cup start on Sunday, and he quickly ensured Spain weren’t going to endure the same frustrations as in their humiliating draw with Cape Verde.
It was a little later – and briefer – than most would’ve hoped, but Lamine Yamal has arrived at the World Cup.
That is significant specifically for the 2026 tournament, but also – as we’ll likely come to see in future years – for the competition in general, as Yamal is a player who’ll no doubt light up a fair few more matches on football’s grandest stage.
Yamal’s second-half cameo off the bench on Matchday 1 against Cape Verde ended up being a bit of a dress rehearsal. Only fit enough to feature for the final 19 minutes after a recent hamstring injury, Yamal showed flashes of his ability; he attempted the most dribbles (five) of anyone on the pitch despite only coming on in the 71st minute. But not even he was able to drag a lacklustre Spain to victory.
On Sunday, however, he made the first World Cup start of his career as Spain brushed Saudi Arabia aside 4-0 in Atlanta, La Roja having none of the issues that befell them in the final third against Cape Verde as they found themselves three to the good by the first-half hydration break.
Yamal certainly contributed to that, helping put Spain in such a comfortable position that Luis de la Fuente was able to wrap his star man in cotton wool and take him off at half-time in preparation for the battles to come.
As expected, the Barcelona winger looked eager to make a notable impression right from the off, quickly getting himself on the front foot; he’d turned the Saudi captain, Salem Al Dawsari, inside-out and left him on his backside in one tussle within a few minutes of the start. That was one of his two successful dribbles out of three.
His ability to come inside or go around the outside left the Saudi defence second-guessing themselves constantly and also made him a double threat.
There were three instances of him taking his marker on the outside and crossing or shaping to do so, either way wreaking havoc in the Saudi backline – and that was just before the hydration break.
But then there were also several examples of him cutting in onto his left foot and striking at goal; the standard of those efforts wasn’t always high, but he did force goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais into one decent save from distance.
Of course, it was his other shot on target that marked Yamal’s true moment of arrival at the World Cup.
A smart off-ball run to the back post exploited dreadfully absent defending by Saudi Arabia’s left-back, and Yamal was left with one of the simplest finishes of his fledgling career from Mikel Oyarzabal’s pinpoint low cross.
Yamal was just 10 minutes (9:58, to be precise) into his first World Cup start and was off the mark. It made him the eighth youngest scorer in the competition’s history, and just the second player aged 18 or younger to open the scoring in a World Cup match after 17-year-old Pelé for Brazil against Wales in 1958.
An easy finish, yes, but also a goal that will undoubtedly delight managers and ex-pros-turned-pundits all over the world, for it was an example of a young winger continuing his run all the way to the back post in a sign of the maturity Yamal is developing.
In the interest of balance and refusing to get too carried away, Yamal’s performance certainly wasn’t perfect.
He had five shots in total and, although he did score, there were also several attempts from distance when he had teammates in better positions.
It could also be argued he wasn’t their most important attacker on the day. Like Yamal, Dani Olmo came into the starting XI and offered so much energy and intensity behind Oyarzabal, who himself had a hand in Spain’s first three goals with the assist for Yamal and a couple of finishes of his own.
But with Yamal, sometimes it’s not necessarily what he does with the ball that helps make the difference. It seemed like his mere presence lifted Spain in the first half on Sunday, his willingness to think outside the box and take responsibility almost emboldening others at the same time.
He replaced Ferran Torres – a player who thrives with darting off-ball runs – in the starting XI, and against a similarly packed defence as on MD1, the greater subtlety Yamal offers immediately suggested it was going to be a different story, either because of him or the belief his presence seems to stoke.
It should also be noted that Spain were considerably less expressive and rampant in the second half, after Yamal’s withdrawal. Between the 64th minute and the end of the match, La Roja‘s only shot (excluding Torres’ disallowed goal for offside) was by Mikel Merino from the edge of the box with one of the last kicks of the game in the 98th minute – and that effort was blocked. Granted, the game was clearly already won by half-time, but it’s not outlandish to say they’d have been less passive with Yamal on the pitch.
Again, it was only Saudi Arabia and we did only get another 45 minutes of Yamal on the pitch. But if we assume the young superstar is going to continue growing, getting sharper and becoming more influential as the tournament progresses, there’s no reason he can’t inspire another deep run just as he did two years ago for Spain’s successful Euro 2024 campaign.
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