2026 World Cup: Oyarzabal strikes twice as Spain blow Austria away to cruise into last 16
Lamine Yamal was in sizzling form as slick Spain produced a statement victory in Los Angeles with a 3-0 victory over outclassed Austria that illustrated their standing as potential winners of the tournament.
Ralf Rangnick's team had high hopes of causing an upset, but were dismantled by the European champions with Barcelona winger Yamal inspiring their victory with some wonderful movement in a glorious team performance.
A double from Mikel Oyarzabal (36' and 89') bookended Spain's most dominant outing at the finals so far with Pedro Porro nodding his first goal for the national side on 66 minutes.
Only a late goal-line clearance by David Alaba denied Yamal the goal that a sell-out crowd inside the Los Angeles Stadium the goal they craved from an instinctive quickfire snap shot.
After Marc Cucurella had a goal disallowed on 29 minutes for an earlier foul on Austria goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, Spain deservedly moved ahead when Oyarzabal slipped the ball home from Cucurella's pass.
The Austrian goal lived a charmed life for large swathes of the contest.
Indeed, they failed to manage a single shot on target, the first time this has happened in a World Cup knockout match since Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 in the 2014 final.
But Spain were in their element throughout the match as Alex Baena accepted a pass from Cucurella to set up Porro for a lovely headed second before new Real Madrid signing Cucurella picked out Oyarzabal to net his 17th goal in 16 starts for La Roja.
Their reward is a meeting with Portugal or Croatia in the last 16 on Monday night in Dallas.