Lamine Yamal set to shine in Spain’s World Cup opener
Spain will walk into their World Cup opener with their brightest young star cleared for take-off.
Lamine Yamal, the Barcelona prodigy who scared a nation when his hamstring gave way in April, has been declared in “perfect condition” to face Cape Verde on Monday, according to head coach Luis de la Fuente. The injury cut short his 2025-26 season and turned his summer into a race against time. Spain have just been told they’ve won it.
“The good news is that Lamine is in perfect condition,” De la Fuente said in his pre-match press conference. No caveats about the injury, no late fitness tests. Just one important asterisk: he will not be thrown straight into a 90-minute shift.
The plan is clear. Yamal will play, but his minutes will be rationed. Spain know exactly what they have in the teenager, and they are not about to gamble with him in the opening game.
He is not the only one carefully managed. Nico Williams and Victor Munoz are also available, De la Fuente confirmed, though they too are unlikely to see the full match. “He's fine, just like Nico and Victor. They're all available, although some won't play the entire game,” the coach explained. The medical staff have signed off: Yamal can feature “without any issues” – just not from first whistle to last.
Spain chase rare double – with scars to erase
Spain arrive as European champions and, according to Opta’s supercomputer, as favourites to win the World Cup. The numbers like them. History has been less kind.
Only three nations have ever held the European Championship and World Cup at the same time. Spain are trying to join that elite group again, having already done the double in their golden era more than a decade ago. To do it now, they must overturn a World Cup record that has turned sour since 2010.
Since that triumph in South Africa, La Roja have stumbled. A group-stage exit. Two last-16 eliminations, both on penalties. One semi-final in their last 14 World Cup appearances – and that came in 2010. The aura of inevitability that once followed them has long gone.
Recent form on this stage underlines the problem. Spain have won only one of their last six World Cup matches (D4 L1), that lone victory the 7-0 demolition of Costa Rica in the 2022 group stage. When the stakes have tightened, so have Spain.
This is the backdrop Yamal walks into: a team with the ball, the talent and the tag of favourites, but still fighting its own World Cup psychology.
Chemistry, continuity – and a transfer subplot
Inside the camp, De la Fuente leans on familiarity. Yamal and Williams have spent “a lot of days, a lot of hours” working together, as the coach put it, building the kind of understanding that can tilt tight games. If the match against Cape Verde demands it, both could share the pitch.
“They've been working together a lot of days, a lot of hours, and with the relationship they have, they've been happy. They could play, if we think the game demands it,” De la Fuente said. It sounded less like a throwaway line and more like a hint: the coach knows he has a devastating wide pairing in reserve.
Around them, another storyline hums in the background. Reports suggest Marc Cucurella is closing in on a move from Chelsea to Real Madrid. For many players, that kind of speculation on the eve of a World Cup could be a distraction. De la Fuente brushed the idea aside and instead doubled down on his faith in the left-back.
He refused to be drawn on club matters, but his verdict on Cucurella as an international footballer was emphatic. The defender, he said, has been with the national setup since he was 17. He knows his “performance, the quality and potential” and described him as “one of the best left-backs in the world, without doubt.”
“If it's good news for Cucu, or someone else, we'll celebrate it,” De la Fuente added. The message was simple: transfer noise stays outside the dressing room door.
A new campaign, an old question
So Spain step into this World Cup carrying two very different weights: the confidence of being Europe’s champions and the burden of a decade of underachievement on the biggest stage.
They have Lamine Yamal fit, Nico Williams ready, Marc Cucurella trusted, and a coach who believes his squad can rewrite the numbers that trail them. Opta’s models say they are favourites. The past says they still have something to prove.
Cape Verde come first. The real test, though, is whether this Spain side can finally turn promise and possession into another deep World Cup run – or whether 2010 will remain a one-off flicker in an otherwise frustrating story.
