Saudi Arabia will at least have one thing to remember their 2026 World Cup encounter with Spain by.
Forever, they will be the answer to the quiz question: against whom did Lamine Yamal score his first ever World Cup goal?
On his first start for Spain after recuperating from injury, the Barcelona whizzkid required just 10 minutes to make his mark.
The 18-year-old winger stole in at the far post to open Spain’s account. The pain had only just begun for Saudi Arabia, even though Yamal only stuck around for half the game.
Having drawn their opening game in promising fashion against Uruguay last week, the Gulf side might have had a little bit of optimism ahead of facing the tournament favourites in Atlanta.
Plus there were those lingering memories of Doha, when they downed a Spanish-speaking behemoth of the world game, whose star attraction was a one-time boy wonder reared in Barcelona.
That Argentina upset four years ago was statistically the biggest shock in World Cup history based on the rankings difference between the two sides.
And yet the disparity back then felt far less vast than ahead of the game against Spain. Back in 2022, Saudi Arabia had been a vibrant side.
Salem Al Dawsari, their captain, was at the peak of his powers. Mohammed Kanno and the other leading lights of the Saudi Arabia side might have had less celebrated teammates at club level back then, but at least they got to play.
As such, while the world might have been stunned by the 2-1 win over a Lionel Messi-led side who went on to win the Qatar World Cup, Saudi Arabian fans were less so.
This time around, though, Spain were such a daunting proposition that hopes of another upset were barely even thought, let alone spoken.
Even the line-up picked by Georgios Donis, the Greek coach who is overseeing his first assignment as Saudi Arabia manager at this World Cup, spoke more of damage limitation rather than a push to win.
The fact Spain were limited to a mere 4-0 win spoke of the fact they were doing their best to rotate players to keep their resources fresh from 45 minutes onwards. The game had been wrapped up by half time, so Yamal could be put back in cotton wool.
Remarkably – and historically; it was the first time it had happened since records began – Mikel Oyarzabal did not touch the ball at all in the first 30 minutes of Spain’s first game against Cape Verde. Not one kick.
The contrast could not have been much greater this time around. By that stage against Saudi Arabia, he had two goals, having provided the assist for Yamal.
Five minutes later, he was a coat of paint away from a hat-trick. Mohammed Al Owais, the Saudi goalkeeper whose mind was apparently frazzled by the onslaught, presented the ball to Oyarzabal on the right side of the box.
The Real Sociedad forward got the ball straight under control, and fired in a shot from the angled that clipped the top of the bar.
Such was Spain’s dominance at that stage, Saudi Arabia must have been fearful of racking up an 8-0 loss like they did in 2002 against Germany in their opening game in Japan and South Korea.
At the very least, they appeared in danger of matching Qatar’s 6-0 drubbing against Canada earlier in the week.
They made it to half-time with no further damage done, though, at which point Luis de la Fuente took pity on them by removing both goalscorers, Oyarzabal and Yamal.
It hardly made a difference. Even without the dynamic duo, Spain registered a fourth shortly after the restart.
It summed up Saudi Arabia’s malaise that the goal came via a muddled own goal. Marc Cucurella, the left-back newly signed by Real Madrid, was unmarked at the back post from a corner and fired in a shot from close range.
Al Owais blocked it, but it bounced back into the net off the back of his defender, Hassan Al Tambakti.
The pressure gradually dissipated thereafter, as De la Fuente shuffled his pack, even though Spain did have the ball in the net again late on.
Ferran Torres struck from close range in stoppage time, but the goal was ruled out due to offside after a lengthy VAR check.
