Gavi makes history as Spain demolish Costa Rica to open World Cup.
Spain beat Costa Rica 7-0 to put global powers on notice after Saudi Arabia and Japan upset Argentina and Germany. It was a historically dominating win that makes Spain a tournament favourite.
What scoring issues?
Spain’s offensive was questioned before the World Cup. Spain ranked 17th in the area in goals (23 in 14 games) during World Cup qualification and the UEFA Nations League and hadn’t scored more than two in 11 competitive matches. A low-scoring encounter was probable against Costa Rica’s five-man backline and former Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
This thought suddenly vanished. The Spanish assault quickly ripped through Costa Rica’s 4-4-2 block. Dani Olmo scored in the 11th minute after combining with Gavi, whose deflected chip placed him in front of goal.
Marco Ascensio’s goal off a Jordi Alba pass secured the win, and Ferran Torres’ penalty gave Spain more goals in 31 minutes than 18 teams had scored in entire time. Never-ending attacks.
2. Historical dominance
Spain’s seven goals are the most it’s ever scored in a World Cup match, surpassing a 6-1 triumph over Bulgaria in 1998. Spain scored seven goals at the 2010 World Cup, which it won.
It was the most lopsided World Cup victory since Portugal defeated North Korea 7-0 in 2010 and the first time any team scored seven since Germany beat Brazil in 2014. The record World Cup win margin is nine, which has occurred three times, most recently in 1982.
Spain is the first World Cup team to keep an opponent scoreless since Brazil in 1990. Spain’s 81.3% possession was the highest since 1966. It was a dominating World Cup performance.
Thanks, Costa Rica
It was always going to take an incredible performance for Costa Rica to escape a group comprising two recent World Cup winners (Spain and Germany) and Japan. After this, it seems impossible. The squad lost all three matches in 2006 and ended 31st in the competition.
Luis Fernando Sanchez thought a four-man backline was strange. Knowing that Spain would dominate possession and has struggled against bunkered defenders. It wouldn’t have mattered if Los Ticos began with five defenders, but Fernandez admits he made a tactical error when he switched to a 5-4-1.
Costa Rica’s previous worst World Cup loss was three goals, against Czechoslovakia (4-1), Brazil (5-2), and Ecuador (6-1). (3-0).
Spain: Simon 6, Azpilicueta 7, Busquets 8, Gavi 9, Asensio 9, Torres 8, Rodri 7, Alba 8, Olmo 8, LaPorte 7, Pedri 7
Subs: Soler 6, Morata 7, Balde 6, Koke 6, Williams 6
Navas 3, Fuller 4, Borges 4, Duarte 4, Conteras 5, Oviedo 4, Bennette, Campbell, Calvo 4, Martinez 5, Tejeda 5.
Subs: Waston 6, Ruiz 6, Zamora 5, Aguilera 5, Matarita 6
Performance rankings
Gavi
Given Spain’s dominance, many players may be recognised, but let’s focus Gavi. He scored with a goal-of-the-tournament contender at 18 years, 110 days old.
WORST: Navas
Navas bailed out his teammates, as he has many times in international tournaments.
Players and managers’ postgame comments
Ferran Torres: “Joyful. We expected a tough match. We had a significant advantage at halftime, but goals are important in this tournament, so we kept scoring. We strive to play the manner we want from the first minute to the 90th, and we did that tonight. Now we’ll think about Germany and view footage of how they play. We have an excellent crew, will make things tough, and want to achieve huge things.”
Luis Enrique: “We loved that game. We focused on the start. We wanted to start the tournament well, and we did. Our first World Cup game wasn’t terrific. We faced a very difficult squad in Costa Rica, but today we were better in every area of the game.”
Luis Suarez: “Obviously, I’m sad. I had various expectations and sentiments for this game. Sincerely, I’m not well.” “I’m scared my squad won’t be able to deal psychologically with our poor performance and outcome. That’s the first answer I need to give my squad, and we must put this behind us and start working tomorrow to remind our guys about Japan and strive to win.”
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