Key Points
- Spain beat Austria 3-0 at SoFi Stadium on July 2 to reach the World Cup Round of 16.
- Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice (36', 89') and Pedro Porro headed in the second (66').
- Austria failed to register a single shot on target all match.
- Spain next face the winner of Portugal vs Croatia at Dallas Stadium.
Spain moved into the World Cup Round of 16 with a 3-0 win over Austria at SoFi Stadium on July 2, in a game that never felt in doubt. Mikel Oyarzabal scored on either side of a Pedro Porro header, and the reigning European champions controlled the match from the first whistle to the last.
Oyarzabal opened the scoring in the 36th minute, Porro doubled the lead with his first international goal — a 66th-minute header — and Oyarzabal added the third in the 89th. The scoreline actually flattered Austria: Spain outshot them 21 to 8, held 64% of the ball, and finished with an expected-goals edge of 2.80 to 0.32. Austria did not put a single shot on target.
It was as one-sided as those numbers suggest. Once Oyarzabal opened the scoring, Spain turned the match into an exhibition — keeping the ball, shifting Austria from side to side, and treating the second half as shooting practice. Austria, who had scraped out of their group, offered almost nothing going forward and were effectively beaten the moment Porro's header made it 2-0.
The performance matters because of how Spain arrived at it. The pre-tournament favorites had looked flat in the group stage, held to a 0-0 draw by World Cup debutants Cape Verde, and questions lingered about whether Lamine Yamal's side had another gear. Against Austria they found it. Oyarzabal — the Real Sociedad forward who scored the winning goal in Spain's Euro 2024 final — again delivered when the lights came up, and the reigning European champions finally looked like the team billed to win it all, arriving just as the 32-team knockout bracket thins out. That timing is the warning to the rest of the field.
Spain now wait on a Round of 16 tie at Dallas Stadium against the winner of Portugal and Croatia — a potential meeting with Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, who tore through their group. Spain would go on to make good on that momentum, beating Belgium 2-1 to reach the World Cup semifinals.
Source: ESPN, CBS Sports
Comments