INGLWOOD, Calif. — Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice as Spain cruised into the World Cup round of 16 with a 3-0 win over Austria at SoFi Stadium on Thursday to extend their unbeaten streak to 34 games.
After an underwhelming group stage, which included a surprise draw with Cape Verde, Spain now head with fresh momentum toward a last-16 meeting with either Portugal or Croatia on Monday in Arlington, Texas.
“The great teams step up when it’s needed,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “We played a great match. We came close to perfection, but we must keep improving. There is always room for improvement, because every upcoming match will be very difficult.”
It also marked a significant hurdle overcome for one of the pretournament favorites, with Thursday’s result their first knockout win at the World Cup since they beat Netherlands in the 2010 final.
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After Spain’s group stage exit in 2014 and failures at the first knockout hurdle in the past two tournaments, Oyarzabal became the first Spanish player to score a World Cup knockout goal since Andres Iniesta’s extra-time winner in the final in South Africa.
The Real Sociedad striker first found the net with a first-time finish in the 34th minute after fine buildup play involving Pedri and Marc Cucurella. And he put the cap on Spain’s dominant win after another cross from Cucurella and another cool finish past the Austria goalkeeper.
It took Oyarzabal’s tally to four goals at this World Cup and 17 goals in his last 16 starts for Spain. His 29 total goals put him in a tie with Fernando Hierro in sixth place on Spain’s all-time scorers list.
“I’m happy to have helped the team for us to go through another round,” Oyarzabal said. “Now just rest and get ready for the next one. It was a complicated match. We knew that it was going to be difficult against a very physical team, but we had a very good day and played a good match.”
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In between, defender Pedro Porro headed in his first goal for his country midway through the second half, this time from an assist from Álex Baena.
Lamine Yamal is headlining a new generation of Spanish talent looking to deliver the country a second men’s World Cup title and the now-fit-again Barcelona prodigy was at the heart of several of Spain’s best moments, particularly in the first half, to get the pro-Spanish crowd of more than 70,000 off their feet.
The only thing missing was a goal, which he so nearly got with a snap shot in the dying minutes that was turned away on the line by Austria defender David Alaba.
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Yamal and Barcelona teammate Pau Cubarsí became the first pair of teenagers to start a World Cup knockout match for a team since Pelé and José Altafini in 1958 for Brazil against Wales in the quarterfinal.
Cubarsí has been part of a Spain defense that has yet to allow a goal at this year’s World Cup, with Unai Simón keeping his fourth consecutive clean sheet.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
