Spain stars Lamine Yamal and Pedro Porro trained separately from their teammates on Thursday during the team’s first training session in New Jersey but are expected to be fit for Sunday’s World Cup final vs. Argentina at MetLife Stadium.
The right-back and right-winger, who played 84 and 90 minutes respectively in Spain’s semifinal victory over France on Tuesday, finished the match heavily fatigued and dealing with some physical issues.
The Tottenham fullback was substituted in the 85th minute against France after experiencing muscle discomfort. De la Fuente said on Wednesday that the defender is dealing with muscle overload and will undergo further evaluation before the final.
Sources told ESPN that both players are expected to be available for Sunday’s match and that their training apart was out of an abundance of caution as part of workload management.
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Lamine Yamal has logged 496 minutes of play and has started every match at this World Cup, except against Cape Verde.
De la Fuente said after the France match that the Barcelona star was fine.
“As far as I know, Lamine has nothing serious. I’ve just spoken with the medical staff, and everything looks positive,” he said.
Porro started five of the seven matches Spain played in the World Cup.
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He beat out Marcos Llorente for the starting right-back spot and has played 444 minutes, scoring in the round of 32 against Austria and again against France in the semifinal.
Spain will be playing only their second outdoor match of the tournament.
Much of the northeastern United States has been covered with a haze of smoke from Canadian wildfires, triggering health alerts, but rain over the weekend is expected to help clear the weather in time for Sunday’s final in New Jersey.
