Lamine Yamal Set to Shine in Spain’s World Cup Opener
Spain will walk into their World Cup opener with a spring in their step. The reason has a name: Lamine Yamal.
Luis de la Fuente confirmed on Sunday that the Barcelona prodigy is in “perfect condition” to face Cape Verde on Monday, easing the biggest fitness worry around La Roja’s campaign before a ball has even been kicked.
Yamal missed the run-in of the 2025-26 season after a hamstring injury in April, his progress towards the tournament monitored almost daily. Spain built a plan around getting him to this point. According to the coach, they’ve hit the target.
“He’s arrived at this point in the state in which we wanted him to be,” De la Fuente told reporters in his pre-match press conference. “He’s fine, just like Nico [Williams] and Victor [Munoz]. They’re all available, although some won’t play the entire game.”
The caveat is clear. Yamal will play, but not for 90 minutes. His minutes will be rationed, his involvement carefully controlled.
“The doctors say Lamine can play tomorrow without any issues. Not to play 90 minutes, but to play some minutes, yes. The process [with Williams] is similar,” De la Fuente added.
Spain chase history – and exorcise ghosts
Spain arrive at this World Cup with a heavy label: favourites, at least according to Opta’s supercomputer. The data models like what they see. The history books are less forgiving.
Their 2010 triumph remains the only time they have reached the semi-finals in their last 14 World Cup appearances. Since lifting the trophy in Johannesburg, the record has turned ugly: a group-stage exit in 2014, then back-to-back last-16 eliminations on penalties.
One win in their last six World Cup matches (D4 L1) tells its own story. That solitary victory was the 7-0 demolition of Costa Rica in the 2022 group stage, a flash of the old dominance that quickly faded when the knockout tension arrived.
This squad is trying to write a different chapter. Fresh from their European Championship success in Germany two years ago, Spain are chasing a rare double. Only three nations have ever held the European Championship and World Cup titles at the same time. De la Fuente’s side want to become the fourth.
For that, they need their wide men. Yamal and Nico Williams give this Spain something the previous, more possession-obsessed versions often lacked: directness, pace, and the ability to rip open a low block in a single movement.
“They’ve been working together a lot of days, a lot of hours, and with the relationship they have, they’ve been happy,” De la Fuente said of his two wingers. “They could play, if we think the game demands it.”
Cape Verde will likely feel that demand early.
Cucurella in the spotlight amid Real Madrid links
While the focus sits on Yamal’s fitness and Spain’s ambitions, another storyline has crept into camp. Reports suggest Marc Cucurella is closing in on a move from Chelsea to Real Madrid, a transfer that would instantly change the landscape of his club career.
De la Fuente, though, brushed aside any concern that the noise might distract his left-back.
“If it’s good news for Cucu, or someone else, we’ll celebrate it,” he said. “I don’t talk about clubs, but if you ask me about Cucurella for the national team, he’s convincing.
“He’s been with us since he was 17. I know his performance, the quality and potential he has. He might be one of the best left-backs in the world, without doubt.”
Cucurella’s rise under De la Fuente, from youth levels to a trusted senior starter, underlines the continuity the coach leans on. This is not a Spain side built overnight; many of these players have grown within the same ideas, the same demands.
A familiar stage, a different Spain?
So Spain open against Cape Verde with their brightest young star cleared, their other key winger available, and their left-back being talked about as one of the best in the world. The pieces are there.
What they lack is recent World Cup authority. The numbers are stark, the memories of shoot-out heartbreak still raw. Yet this version of La Roja carries a different edge: more vertical, more aggressive, less in love with sterile domination of the ball.
Yamal will not play the whole game. He might not need to. A few decisive minutes from the teenager could be enough to ignite a campaign that, by the models at least, is already expected to go the distance.
Spain know what history offers them if they get this right. The question now is whether this group, with a 17-year-old winger at its heart and an old champion’s weight on its shoulders, can turn promise into something far more enduring.
