Lamine Yamal Cleared as Spain Prepares for World Cup Opener
Spain will walk into their World Cup opener with their brightest young star available and their ambitions set sky-high.
Lamine Yamal, the Barcelona prodigy who frightened defenders all season before a hamstring injury halted his campaign in April, has been given the green light to face Cape Verde on Monday. For Luis de la Fuente, it is the news he wanted at exactly the moment he needed it.
“The good news is that Lamine is in perfect condition,” the Spain head coach told reporters on the eve of the game. No caveats, no doubts about his recovery – only a clear warning that his minutes will be handled with care.
Yamal missed the run-in of the 2025-26 season and spent weeks racing the clock to be ready for the finals. Spain built a plan around his rehabilitation; he has arrived, De la Fuente insisted, “in the state in which we wanted him to be.” The message was simple: he is fit, he is sharp, but he will not be thrown into a 90-minute slog straight away.
Nico Williams is in a similar place. Another winger, another key outlet, another fitness question that now leans towards optimism. “He's fine, just like Nico and Victor [Munoz]. They're all available, although some won't play the entire game,” De la Fuente said. The medical staff have cleared Yamal to feature, and Williams is tracking along the same path. Spain’s flanks, at least on paper, look loaded again.
A shot at rare air
The stakes are enormous. Spain arrive at this World Cup as favourites, according to Opta’s supercomputer, and with a chance to join an elite club. Only three nations have ever held the European Championship and World Cup at the same time. After lifting the Euros in Germany two years ago, La Roja now stand 90 minutes at a time from joining that group.
Yet the recent World Cup record tells a more sobering story.
Since the golden summer of 2010, Spain’s relationship with this tournament has turned uneasy. The defence of their crown ended in a group-stage collapse. The last two editions finished in the same cruel fashion: last-16 exits decided from the penalty spot. Across their last six World Cup matches, they have just one win to show – that 7-0 demolition of Costa Rica in the 2022 group stage. The rest: four draws and a single defeat.
So the weight of expectation sits on a foundation that has cracked before. That is why Yamal’s availability matters so much. He offers something different: unpredictability, audacity, the ability to break a game open with one touch or one feint. In tight World Cup contests, those players tilt tournaments.
Cape Verde, on paper, should not be the side to expose Spain’s scars. But World Cups are not played on paper, and De la Fuente knows his team must show that the trauma of past exits has hardened them rather than haunted them.
Cucurella calm amid Real Madrid noise
While fitness dominated the build-up, transfer talk still found its way into the national-team camp. Reports suggest Marc Cucurella is close to swapping Chelsea for Real Madrid, a move that would reshape his club career and push him onto an even bigger domestic stage.
De la Fuente brushed away any concern that such speculation might distract his left-back. For him, Cucurella is not a player caught between two clubs, but a trusted pillar of his squad.
“If it's good news for Cucu, or someone else, we'll celebrate it,” he said, refusing to wade into club politics. What he did make clear is how highly he rates the defender. Cucurella, who has been part of the national setup since he was 17, drew glowing praise: De la Fuente highlighted his performance levels, his quality, his potential, and described him as “one of the best left-backs in the world, without doubt.”
Those are strong words, and they land differently in a tournament where every selection is scrutinised. Cucurella’s role, like that of Yamal and Williams, feeds into a broader picture: this is a Spain side built on continuity, long-term relationships and a manager who trusts his core.
Spain’s moment of truth
So Spain step into their opener with their main wide threats available, their left-back backed to the hilt, and a data model tipping them to go all the way. The numbers say they are favourites. History says they have fallen short too often. The squad list says they are armed to change that.
Yamal will not play every minute. Williams may not either. They may only be unleashed in bursts, in those windows when a game hangs in the balance and needs a flash of something rare.
The question now is not whether Spain have the talent. It is whether this group, starting against Cape Verde, can finally turn promise and prediction into the kind of World Cup run that has eluded them for 14 of their last 15 attempts.
