Luay Ahmed
Spain kicked off their World Cup campaign with a dominant 7-0 win over Costa Rica at the Al Thumama Stadium this evening.
Spain set the tone for the evening right away, controlling possession from the start of the game. It took the Spaniards just five minutes to fashion their first opportunity of the match – Pedri passed a great ball to Olmo who side footed his effort wide of the post.
A few minutes later, Olmo would make up for his miss by rounding off a wonderful team move, in which he controlled a incisive pass from Gavi, and coolly slotted the ball past a hapless Kaylor Navas.
In the 21nd minute, Spain doubled their lead when a Jordi Alba cross into the box was met by Asensio, who swept the ball into the net with a first time effort.
Eight minutes later, with Costa Rica struggling to gain a foothold in the match, Duarte caught the back of Jordi Alba’s heel – the referee pointed to the spot immediately and presented Ferran Torres with a chance to add Spain’s third goal. Spain’s number 11 duly obliged, coolly slotting the ball into the back of the net, to spend Spain into half time with a 3-0 lead.
In the second half, things went from bad to worse for Costa Rica, as Spain added their fourth goal 10 minutes after the restart. Smart combination play between Torres and Gavi resulted in a poor clearance by Costa Rica. Torres pounced on the failed clearance to slot the ball home past Kaylor Navas.
Spain went on to score three more goals. In the 74th minute, Alvaro Morata crossed the ball to Gavi at the edge of the box, and the Barcelona man struck a beautiful outside of the foot volley to make it 5-0 to Spain.
With one minute left in normal time, a poor clearance from the Costa Rican defensive line allowed substitute Soler to slot the ball home from the middle of the box to score Spain's 6th goal. 3 minutes later, Alvaro Morata added the 7th goal in the match, Spain’s highest ever goal tally in a World Cup game, when he latched onto an Olmo through ball to smash the ball into the bottom corner.
Final Score: Spain 7 – Costa Rica.