Mikel Oyarzabal scored his third and fourth goals of the World Cup and Spain eased into the last 16 with a 3-0 victory over Austria on Thursday afternoon in Inglewood, Calif.
Pedro Porro added his first-ever goal for Spain after halftime, a header that made it 2-0 and, for all intents and purposes, ensured victory against an opponent that rarely threatened.
Fullback Marc Cucurella assisted both of Oyarzabal’s goals for La Roja, who outshot Das Team 23-5 overall and led 10-0 in efforts on target.
That was more than enough to secure a round of 16 meeting with Portugal, who edged Croatia 2-1 later on Thursday in Toronto.
Spain have now outscored their opponents 8-0 while continuing their run as one of two teams yet to concede a goal at this World Cup, alongside Mexico.
Austria remain in search of their first knockout stage World Cup victory since their third-place finish in 1954. They last advanced beyond the initial group stage in 1978, when there was a second group phase before the semifinals and final.
Spain’s 18-year-old star Lamine Yamal played 85 minutes in his longest outing since mid-April following a hamstring tear that ended his club season early.
And while he had some frustrating near-misses in attempting to add his second goal of the tournament, it ultimately didn’t matter.
Spain had an earlier apparent goal waved off for a foul on Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager before taking the lead through Oyarzabal in the 36th minute.
Pedri made the run up the middle before playing the ball wide to Cucurella on the left. Cucurella dragged his cross low toward the penalty spot, where Oyarzabal met it with a simple low finish.
Porro doubled the advantage in the 66th minute on arguably Spain’s best attack of the match. This time it was Cucurella in the middle winning a 50-50 ball following an Austrian tackle and playing the ball wide to Alex Baena, who curled in a tempting short cross.
Porro may not have scored a national team goal before, but he certainly looked the part, arriving in the box at the right time to guide an easy header across the line.
Cucurella connected with Oyarzabal again in the 89th minute and the Real Sociedad forward became the fourth player at the tournament to score multiple goals in multiple games. The others? Argentina’s Lionel Messi, France’s Kylian Mbappe and Norway’s Erling Haaland.
(Reuters)
