Reuters
Spain extended its unbeaten streak in competitive fixtures to 32 matches during its World Cup opener last week.
And yet, it was hard not to see La Roja’s scoreless draw against debutant Cabo Verde — the third-least-populated country to ever qualify for the World Cup — as a disastrous start for Spain, who entered ranked second in the FIFA world rankings.
The Spaniards will look to reestablish themselves as threats when they continue Group H play against Saudi Arabia on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.
Spain (0-0-1, 1 point) controlled their opening match, holding 65% of the possession, a 27-6 edge in shots and 7-1 in shots on net.
Defender Marc Cucurella chose to focus on the upside of starting with a performance like this.
“I think it’s good that it happened to us in the first match,” Cucurella said. “Because maybe it happens to you in another round and you go home.”
The addition of teenage star Lamine Yamal off the bench in the 71st minute, returning from a hamstring injury, transformed the attack. But even he couldn’t break through for Spain, who failed to win its World Cup opener for the fourth time in the last five trips.
It sounds like Yamal will once again be limited on Sunday as the team is playing the long game for what they hope will be a stretch of eight games this summer.
“I feel good physically, I’m ready for whatever the boss wants,” Yamal said Friday in a Spanish television interview.
“It’s very early, it’s unnecessary (to play 90 minutes). I have a process of adaptation. It isn’t the moment to play a full game but I’ll play the minutes the boss wants.”
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