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Although Spain arrived at this year’s World Cup as a championship favorite and then went unbeaten through group play, those first three matches weren’t overly impressive.
When the knockout rounds finally arrived Thursday, this star-studded team turned on its full talent and served notice that Spain can be just as good as everybody thought — and it’s probably getting better.
Mikel Oyarzabal scored two goals and Spain beat Austria 3-0 for its first World Cup victory in a knockout match since winning the title in 2010.
Pedro Porro added a goal in the second half as La Roja put on its most impressive performance of the tournament while demonstrating offensive creativity and defensive rigor throughout its vaunted lineup.
“The great teams step up when it’s needed,” Spain coach Luis De La Fuente said. “We played a great match. We came close to perfection, but we must keep improving.”
While Oyarzabal, fullback Marc Cucurella and winger Lamine Yamal all had sensational moments in attack, Spain also has yet to allow a goal at this year’s World Cup. Austria failed to get a shot on target, so Unai Simón didn’t have to make a save while keeping his fourth consecutive clean sheet and setting a World Cup record with 519 consecutive shutout minutes dating back to the last tournament in Qatar.
Everybody in a red shirt was happy after a dominant day in the Los Angeles area — but nobody was satisfied, either.
“I’m happy to have helped the team for us to go through another round,” Oyarzabal said. “Now just rest and get ready for the next one. It was a complicated match. We knew that it was going to be difficult against a very physical team, but we had a very good day and played a good match.”
La Roja will next face the winner of Portugal’s match against Croatia in Dallas on Monday in the round of 16.
